


Suspicion

by BettyHT



Series: Trapper John [2]
Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 23:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15784002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: Adam's relationship with Delphine and the disastrous turn of events with Ross led to his leaving, but he meets someone important in France, and on his return, he meets Trapper John.  Second in the Trapper John stories.  Next up is Belladonna.





	Suspicion

Suspicion

PART I

Chapter 1

The sun warmed his skin where she wasn't resting on it. He couldn't have been more content at that moment as he stroked her back and gazed down at the blond hair splayed over his chest and tangled in his chest hair. He hoped, no, he knew it was the first of many times he would enjoy this sensation. When she had come up to him after church and told him so boldly that she wanted him and not Ross and to meet her in an hour for a ride to the lake, he had almost not complied. What a foolish decision that would have been. Delphine had been quiet at first as he helped her into the carriage but as they rode to the lake, she had leaned against him and they talked. At the lake, as he helped her from the carriage, they had the first kiss they had shared in over two months. It had started a bit tentatively but was soon overwhelming in intensity. With almost no conversation, they had grabbed the blanket from the carriage and moved to the lakeshore. Delphine made her intentions very clear by unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it from his trousers as they hugged and kissed.

"Are you sure, Del? Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Adam, I have never been more sure of anything in my life."

Not needing any more invitation than that, Adam had helped her undress savoring every inch of her that was revealed kissing and touching until their passion couldn't be restrained. He had made love to women before but it had never been with a woman who loved him and whom he loved as well. He moved then to roll her to the side so he could kiss her and was surprised to find tears had streaked her cheeks.

"Del, I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't want to hurt you. You should have said something."

"You didn't hurt me, but I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you."

"Hurt me? How could you hurt me? You've made me so happy. Del, I love you. I want to be with you like this forever."

"Adam, I love you too, but I'm afraid this is the only time we will ever be together. Ross has asked me to marry him. I'm going to tell him that I will marry him, the next time I see him."

"Del, I thought you must have called it quits with him. I didn't think you would betray him like this. Oh, Del, what have you done? What have you made me do?"

"Adam, I only went with Ross to make you jealous. Ross was so eager to take me places. You were so reluctant to make a commitment to me that I thought I could make you jealous and you would be more willing. But Ross was forceful too. Adam, he isn't gentle like you. I wanted one time with you to have forever, but I have to marry Ross."

"No. Why do you have to marry Ross if you love me?"

"Because I'm carrying his child."

At that point, Adam was speechless. The woman he loved and to whom he had finally admitted his love was going to marry his best friend because she was carrying his child but not because she loved him. Instead, she had just made love to him giving him what he had waited so long to have. It was all very painful to contemplate. He pulled her into an embrace, kissed her deeply, and released her. Moving away from her, he stood and began to dress.

"Adam, you don't hate me now, do you?"

"Del, I could never hate you. I will love you, but you know that we can never be anything more than friends now. Anything else is impossible. I'll give you a ride back to town. I'll be at your wedding, and I'll wish you well."

Del nodded with tears in her eyes. She knew what she had done and would live with her choices. Adam had tears in his heart but couldn't show them. All she saw was a mask. True to his word, Adam was best man at their wedding and toasted the couple smiling for the entire day until they parted that evening. His father and Hoss wondered at the two whiskeys he drank one after another before going up to bed that night. He wasn't usually one to drink whiskey. It was something he drank when he was upset or troubled and rarely did he have two. Neither of them ever knew why he had two that night after having a few drinks earlier that evening. They didn't give him a hard time the next day when he had the obvious result of that overindulgence either. Something was bothering him and they hoped he would talk about it at some point. He never did.

Over the years, Adam was a good friend to Ross whom he often called Skinny. He was there to offer support when Ross and Delphine lost their baby. He was there to help when Ross' parents died and Ross had to take over running the ranch on his own because his younger brother Dave had gone to the east to pursue other interests. Adam suffered terribly when Ross passed through that dark gate of mental illness, turned to outlawing, and ended up killing his wife and trying to kill him. Adam killed his best friend. It was a terrible burden to carry, but none knew the extra weight he carried. It was at every wedding he attended though. Every one made him remember Ross and Delphine's wedding and the loss that he had borne for so many years because of it.

As Adam stood and watched his youngest brother say his wedding vows, he remembered Delphine saying those words with Ross and how each word had been like a stake in his heart knowing she was forever lost to him because of them. Hoss nudged him in the side after the two were pronounced man and wife.

"Ya could smile a bit for our younger brother's sake. Ya don't always hafta have that look at a wedding like somebody up and died. I swear, you must be the most scared of weddings of any man I know."

"I'm not afraid of weddings."

"You look like you are, and you drink more at weddings than you do any other days of the years. Why is that?"

"Maybe because I get harassed more at weddings than I do any other days of the year."

About that time, a wedding guest tossed out the usual refrain about how it was supposed to be the oldest who got married first, not the youngest.

"Oh, yeah, there is some of that. But I get it too, and I don't drink more at weddings."

"It's because you drink so much all the time, you couldn't drink more at a wedding."

Hoss laughed heartily at his brother's jibe thinking that Adam was being Adam. It seemed fairly normal to him so he went on about the day as if nothing more needed to be said. Even Joe ribbed Adam a little about needing a wife but told him not to look at his.

"Don't worry, Joe. I'm not interested in married women."

That got a laugh from Joe and from others nearby, even as Adam danced with a number of women many of whom were married. He danced with quite a few single women too. As the day progressed, Ben noted that Adam had that serious introspective look every time he finished a conversation with someone and didn't need to keep an appropriate stage face. He watched all afternoon and noted that same reaction again and again. Even during the dancing, Adam was all smiles as he danced with one woman after another, but in between, the smiles were gone replaced by that same melancholy look. Adam had that look more and more these days, and Ben worried about what it could mean. Paul noticed Ben observing Adam at one point.

"Are you worried about melancholy?"

"I'm not sure if that's it. Adam is prone to some dark moods. I wonder why weddings seem to bring that out in him."

"Weddings?"

"Yes, I've noticed over the years that it is often weddings that cause some of these moods of his. He doesn't talk about it, and it will pass in a few days."

"I saw him take a drink from a flask earlier. Didn't seem like the kind of thing Adam would likely do."

"It isn't except when he gets like this."

"Would you like me to talk to him?"

"No, he would resent that we've been talking about him. No, but I think I need to have a try at talking to him again. I think he needs to talk this out whatever it is."

"Good luck with that." Paul moved off. He knew as well as anyone that no one got Adam to talk about anything he didn't want to discuss.

That night, when all the guests were gone, and the newlyweds had departed, Adam was going to pour himself a stiff drink when his father interrupted him.

"Perhaps we could talk about why you think you need that drink."

"Maybe I just want a drink. Lots of people have a few drinks when there's a wedding."

"You have more than a few, and usually you have no more than one. What's bothering you so much, Adam. I've noticed this before, and I want to help, but I can't help if you won't talk to me."

Downing the drink to buy some time and to think, Adam decided to discuss something important enough that his father would accept it as the cause and perhaps not pursue this any further. His father could be as persistent as he was if he thought there was something that needed to be done.

"Pa, do you think there's love at first sight or do you have to find someone who can be your friend first and let the love grow?"

"I guess I believe either could be true, but perhaps the path of love is a bit of both. You find someone that you find attractive, who seems to be the one who could be a good match, and then you work at winning that one." Pausing for a short time in thought, Ben had another thought. "Is that it? You wonder why you haven't found someone yet as so many others have and your younger brother has too?"

"The thought has crossed my mind." A master at understatement, Adam knew that would get his father's attention and amuse him as well. It did.

Ben shook his head even as a small smile emerged to break the worry lines that had creased his face earlier. "Adam, you've had some bad luck in that. It doesn't mean that you won't find someone to love and to marry."

"I don't know, Pa. At this point, I think I'd be happy if a comely, intelligent woman came up to me and said she'd be willing to be my wife and live with me. I think I'd take her up on the offer if it was made. It would be better than being alone."

"Son, don't give up on love. I think that you'll find someone. Look at all those women who wanted to dance with you today."

"Pa, most of those women were married. They wanted to dance with me because I was willing and their husbands don't like to dance. Now that they have a wife, they don't think they need to do anything to keep her so they don't. I like to dance, so I accommodate the ladies who seem to appreciate the effort I'm willing to make. It's hardly a way to find a wife. I won't have anything to do with a married woman."

"I know you wouldn't, but some of the women weren't married."

"Pa, I did say I wanted a comely and intelligent woman. Far too many of those women find the weather, their dresses, the food, and various other simple things to be the best they can do for conversation. That's all right for the duration of a dance, but for a relationship, I need more."

Nodding in appreciation of that sentiment, Ben had to agree. "Is there a comely and intelligent woman who might hold your interest? Is there any woman here who could get you to take a chance on love?"

"I hope so, but if so, I haven't met her yet. Well, it's been good talking to you, Pa, but I think I need some sleep. It's been a long day, and I'm tired."

Ben shared the same sentiment. The two men locked up the house, banked the fire, and set the fire screen before heading up to their bedrooms. Both were tired by the events of the day, but only one would find sleep quickly. For hours, Adam stared into the darkness trying to will himself to forget the things that haunted him. He couldn't and fell asleep only when exhaustion claimed him.

Chapter 2

The next morning at breakfast, Adam's eyes were red rimmed with dark rings underneath. He didn't eat much and mostly pushed the food around on his plate as his father and Hoss talked. He didn't pay much attention until he heard his name and the Marquette name in the same sentence. Then he picked up his head and stared at his father.

"What?"

"I was wondering when you would join us. You've been here but not here. Yesterday, Dave Marquette said he could use some help at his place. He asked if you could go over there to help out. He said he fell behind in some projects when he broke his leg and still can't do them. He was hoping you could."

"Why can't his hands take care of things?"

"He only has two men working for him so they're busy with the cattle. And it's the stable that needs repairs as well as the roof of the house. Neither of those men apparently has any experience in doing those kind of things, and everyone knows how good you are at those kinds of things."

"Hoss could go."

"He could, but he has other things to do, and why should he go instead of you?"

Of course Adam didn't want to say why he didn't like to go over to the Marquette ranch and hadn't been there any more than necessary since both Delphine and Ross had been buried there. He had helped take care of the place until Dave and his wife had returned to assume ownership and hadn't been back since. Now, it seemed he was being forced into a situation in which he had to go there. Hoss seemed to understand somewhat even if his father didn't.

"I kin go over there in a few days, Adam, ifn you don't want ta do it."

"Adam?" Ben waited for an answer when Adam didn't immediately reply to Hoss' offer.

Knowing his father would want an explanation if he accepted Hoss' offer though, Adam felt caught. He still carried so much pain and guilt associated with the Marquettes, both Ross and Delphine, and yet he couldn't talk about it. It seemed that every time he tried, his throat tightened up so much no words would come out. He nodded. "I'll go over there. Thanks, Hoss, but I can do it." He didn't dare look at his father at that point. All he could do was try to eat some of the food on his plate. It was a herculean task, but he managed to chew and swallow most of what was there before he finally was able to excuse himself to go outside to the stable to saddle his horse for the ride he didn't want to make. Hoss followed him out there. Nothing was said for quite a while until Hoss put a hand on his shoulder.

"Something been bothering you for a long time. Ya know I'll listen anytime you want to lay that burden down or let somebody else help ya carry it."

All Adam could do was nod again. Hoss seemed to understand as he always did. He turned and led his horse from the stable even as Adam packed some tools and nails into his saddlebags. He wasn't sure what he would need but thought some light supplies at least would be in order. He rode over to the Marquette place slowly knowing he would not get a good reception from Dave. Although the man had requested his assistance, any interactions they had had were of a noticeably cool type. It was entirely understandable considering that Adam had killed Ross even if Ross had been trying to kill him at the time. Many also thought that Adam was responsible for Delphine's death by interfering in their marriage bringing her to the Ponderosa when she and Ross had been at odds. Many did not condone that kind of interference in a relationship between a husband and a wife and it made people wonder what else had been going on. He had heard the talk and knew what was being said and what was being implied as well. It wasn't true, but that seldom mattered to gossips who enjoyed a juicy salacious story no matter who was hurt by it. All he could do was try to wait it out and hope that time would heal any wounds and that stories would lose their interest with nothing more to feed them. Without any more details to add and no more drama, he assumed there soon would be nothing more about which they could talk.

Pulling up when he saw the ranch house down below, Adam took a deep breath before riding down to greet the Marquettes. He could tell by how quiet it was that the two ranch hands were probably not there. The stable doors were closed and there was no smoke coming from the small bunkhouse. He tied his horse by the house and went to the front door and knocked. He waited for quite a while before the door was opened by Dave's wife, Rebecca, a voluptuous woman with a flirtatious smile. Her dress did little to hide her curves and was probably too small for her, but she had squeezed into it anyway probably knowing the effect it would have on any man who saw her.

"Dave is still sleeping this morning. It was a long day for him yesterday trying so hard to walk with that cane and not appear to be limited. You know how men are about things like that. Well, he's paying the price now. He should have spent some time sitting and resting."

"Perhaps I should come back another day."

"No, Dave told me he asked your father if he could send you over to help. I know he should have asked you directly, but you know he has trouble with that. But we know you're the best when it comes to fixing things and he knows that too. I can show you what needs to be done." Pulling the door closed behind her, Rebecca took his arm as if he had no say in the matter. "Let's go to the stable first. My, you are a strong one. I can feel the muscles in your arm." Reaching up with her other hand, Rebecca placed a hand on Adam's bicep. "Yes, you are a very strong one. My Dave isn't so muscular as this. I wish he was. I do like a man with muscles." She ran her hand up and down his upper arm to emphasize her point more thoroughly as if he didn't already know what she meant.

Uncomfortable with the attention, Adam couldn't dislodge her from his arm without seeming a bit uncouth. She dropped her hand from his bicep which was a relief but kept one arm entwined with his as they walked to the stable. Even there, she didn't release him but held on as she asked him to open the stable door. As it swung open, it canted quite a lot to one side.

"There's one of the problems. I can't open the door by myself usually and I can't close it ever. Inside, you'll see that the stalls need new boards in places, and the stall for the newborn colts and fillies is all broken down. That's a job that can be done anytime, but there's a stack of shingles in here too. Dave was meaning to fix up the roof on the house. We have a few places where we have a little bit of leaking in if it rains hard with a strong wind. He thinks new shingles will take care of it. It's quite hot today though so perhaps you wouldn't want to do that. You might get so hot you'll have to take off your shirt. I could bring some cool water to you or we could have some cool lemonade in the shade if you get too hot."

Clearly, Rebecca was flirting with Adam and making him decidedly uncomfortable. All he could think to do was to get to work on something that would require her to let go of his arm. "Perhaps I should get a ladder and take a look at that roof. Do you have one here?"

"Oh, there's a ladder up in the loft."

She looked disappointed at having to say that because she would have to release Adam, but he was relieved. Free of her, Adam climbed up into the loft to retrieve the ladder. Unfortunately, she did not return to the house but waited for him down below. He slid the ladder down and then climbed back down to carry it to the house. When he picked it up, she slid her hands up his back.

"My, I can't get over how strong you are. Your muscles just ripple under that shirt."

"Perhaps, you could carry a few of the shingles to the house while I carry the ladder?"

With that, Adam exited the stable even as Rebecca had a huge grin. Things were working out quite well she thought. As she carried a few shingles up to the house, she saw Dave looking out from the upstairs bedroom window. She dropped the shingles at the base of the ladder that Adam was already climbing to the roof, and she trudged inside to talk to Dave. She was disappointed because she had been having so much fun. She hoped she might have quite a bit more fun before Adam left that day, but she did know there was enough work that he would be back the next day. There would definitely be more opportunities for her.

For most of the day, Adam worked on the roof. Although he did get very hot, he resisted any temptation to remove his shirt or even to unbutton any buttons. He stayed as far away from Rebecca as he could getting water from the bucket at the well telling her when she offered that he wasn't thirsty. When Rebecca called up to him saying she had lunch ready, he declined saying he wasn't hungry and had had a big breakfast. He could see she was disappointed but was worried by her earlier behavior and didn't want to take a chance on a repeat performance. By late afternoon, he thought that he had managed to find all the weak spots in the roof and repair them. He walked all around and it seemed that there were no soft spots and no places that looked like they could be a problem. He climbed down glad that he had brought nails enough for the job, and carried the ladder back to the stable leaning it against the loft but not pushing it up there. There was always the chance he might have to do a few more repairs. He took a good look at the stalls and the stable door before he got his horse, tightened the cinch, and mounted up. He rode to the house hoping that either Dave or Rebecca would come outside. When neither did, he reluctantly dismounted and walked up to the front door again, knocked, and waited. This time Dave answered.

"I thank you for the work you've done, but not for upsetting my wife. She said she was trying to be friendly to you today, and all you did was be unfriendly to her. Now why would you treat her so badly? What has she ever done to you?"

Shocked, Adam didn't know what to say at first and could only defend himself. He didn't want to accuse her of flirting with him. That wasn't something you said to a woman's husband especially when he was already upset. "I didn't treat her badly. I simply got to the work and worked as hard as I could. I'm sorry if she thought that was unfriendly. When I work, I focus on my work. It's the way I am. If you don't want me here doing the work, just say so."

"No, you know I need the work done, and I don't want your father to think I'm not grateful. But please be kind to my wife. She doesn't get to see many people out here, and she's very sensitive."

"All right. I'll try to be kind."

"Thank you. It's all I ask."

Masking his frustration as well as he could, Adam turned and went back to Sport to ride home. As he rode away, Rebecca walked out onto the porch and put her arm through Dave's arm. The two smiled at each other. Dave outlined what had happened and what was going to happen.

"He doesn't know what to think. We've got him right where we want him. Tomorrow, you get to do the rest of it. We'll have him caught right in the crosshairs then. One way or another, he's going to pay. "

"Money, his life, or his reputation, or some combination: you don't really care what it is as long as he suffers, do you?" Rebecca looked up at her husband with admiration. Ever since he had rescued her from a life as a soiled dove and given her love and respect, she would do anything he asked. She adored him.

"No, we've got contingency plans for whatever happens. I've had years to set this up. I'm ready for anything. He will suffer, and suffer a lot if I have anything to do with it, and I plan to have a lot to do with it. He has a lot to answer for, and no one here will make him pay so I will be the sword of justice."

Chapter 3

If Ben thought that Adam was in a bad mood that morning, he wasn't at all prepared for how he was when he returned. Angry and frustrated, he was taking it out on anyone who got near him. After tolerating his behavior through dinner, Ben was frustrated and asked Hoss to follow him when he stalked outside after they finished eating.

"Try to find out what's wrong. You're usually better at getting him to calm down without lighting his fuse."

"I'll do what I can, but I ain't seen him this riled in a long time." Hoss walked outside then not seeing Adam but guessed where he would be. He found him in the stable grooming Sport. He knew his older brother often found comfort by giving it to another. Sport was often the lucky recipient. He settled on a bench and waited knowing Adam would grow frustrated with his silence and say something. What he said would help Hoss know what to say next. It didn't take long.

"I should have taken you up on your offer."

"What offer was that?"

Adam waited because he knew Hoss was only trying to get him to talk more. He knew what offer Adam had meant. The two of them had done this dance often enough that they recognized the moves easily enough. Hoss had waited for him to talk first. He had, but he wasn't going to blurt everything out. It wasn't his way, and Hoss knew that. He would only say what he was comfortable saying and that had a lot to do with what Hoss said next.

"I know why you don't like going over there cause it's still gotta hurt to be there where Ross and Del are buried. But it seems that you're more angry than hurting tonight so something else musta happened. Ya care ta tell me or ya jest gonna take it out on us even though we weren't the ones who done whatever it was that was done to ya?"

Walking around to the other side of Sport to finish his grooming but also to avoid direct eye contact with Hoss, Adam decided he could tell Hoss what happened and perhaps get a second opinion on it. It was possible that Hoss knew more about the situation than he did because he did spend more time in the saloons and talking with the hands from other ranches.

"I got myself as ready as I could to deal with those feelings about Ross and Del before I rode over there. I've been carrying a load for along time about them that I can't seem to put down."

"I know you have. Someday, I wish you could talk to me about that."

"I wish I could too, but not now. Anyway, I thought it wouldn't be too bad, but Rebecca Marquette was flirting with me from the moment I got there."

That got Hoss' attention. "Flirting like in saying stuff or flirting in like doing more?"

"Yes, as in doing more. She said a lot, but she kept touching me when she said things. Without seeming like a complete jackass, I couldn't push her away, but it made me uncomfortable. Her husband was right there in the house, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. At first, all she did was take my arm and not let it go, but then she touched me more, and said things a wife shouldn't say to a man who isn't her husband."

"What'd you do?"

"I decided that fixing the roof was the best bet for staying away from her. I got the ladder from the hayloft and spent the day on the roof. It was damn hot too, but I didn't dare take off my shirt or even open it up a little. I didn't want to do anything to encourage her."

"What happened when it was time for lunch?"

"I said I wasn't hungry and kept on working. When she wasn't around, I slid down the ladder as fast as I could and got water from the well or got more shingles. I was thirsty and hungry when I got home, but then at dinner, as soon as I ate some, my stomach turned on me as I thought about going back there tomorrow."

"Mebbe you shouldn't. I mean, in a coupla days, I could head on over there and finish up whatever else needs to be done. You finished with the roof?"

"I think so. It looked good when I got done. Unless we have a rain and they say there's still a leak somewhere, I think it's repaired."

"Well, that oughta be good enough. I kin do any other kind of repairs good as you probably 'specially ifn ya was ta tell me what needed ta be done."

"I don't think that will be necessary. As I was grooming Sport, I had an idea. All the repairs that are left are in the stable. I'll go early and take down the stable door that needs to be fixed and lay it across the opening against some supports to block the entrance. Then I'll work in the stable cutting wood pieces for the door and the stalls. She won't be able to get in except to pick up that door and move it."

Grinning, Hoss nodded. "You are one sneaky brother. I always tell Joe that. Yeah, that oughta work fine. Good, then ya gonna sleep better tonight, ya think?"

"I think so. Thanks, Hoss. It helps to have you here to talk things through. Pa send you out?"

Shrugging, Hoss couldn't deny it. "He figured I might get you to talk without making you madder. I guess it worked. Pa's pretty smart that way."

"Yeah, he is. Let's go inside so I can show him how smart he was again, and he can sleep better tonight too."

As planned, the next morning, Adam headed out early to try to get his plan in motion before Rebecca even knew he was there. It worked in that he had the stable door down and across the opening effectively blocking access to the stable and had set up a support for it before he ever heard her voice.

"Now, Adam, this is a silly place to lean this door. You can't come in or out. You can't even get any water or lunch with this blocking the way."

"That's all right. I have a canteen with me. I'll be fine. I should be finished by early afternoon so I won't be needing any lunch. I'll head on home when I'm done. Thank you, anyway. It was very considerate of you to think of me."

"Adam, why don't you like me? What have I done to make you not like me?"

"Rebecca, I like you just fine, but I have a lot of work to do. I'm sure Dave would like your attention today while I work. Later, the two of you can come out here and inspect what I've done to see if there's more that needs to be done."

"All right, but I'm sad now."

With an uneasy feeling, Adam looked around and made sure there was no other access to the stable. He had a feeling that Rebecca didn't give up easily when she wanted something. He got to work then and worked for several hours with no interruptions. The stalls were repaired and then he set to work on fixing the stable door. He knew that was going to be the only difficult time because once the door itself was fixed, he would have to set it upright and work on the rail from which it hung that needed to be leveled and nailed back into place. He thought it probably would need some grease on the rails as well. All of that would likely take him most of an hour giving Rebecca plenty of time to accost him again, but at least it would have to be in plain view. He hoped that would be enough to dissuade her from anything too obvious especially when he saw Dave sitting on the porch when he pushed the stable door into position. He was relieved that he was not bothered by Rebecca at all while he set the rail and then hung the stable door after greasing the rail. He pushed the door back and forth several times to be sure it moved easily. Satisfied with his work, he went into the stable to retrieve his tools so that he could leave. That was his one mistake and it proved costly. When he turned to leave, Rebecca was there.

"Now, you have no excuse. There's no work to do and you can do with me whatever you want. No one can see us in here."

"Rebecca, I'm sorry, but you're a married woman. You shouldn't be doing this."

"Adam, Dave won't mind. He never minds. I've seen you looking at me plenty of times so I know you want me. You want this." Rebecca began to unbutton her dress and it was clear that she had little on underneath it. Adam backed up and tried to move around her, but that only made her bolder. She pulled at the buttons so hard that a few popped off and her breasts were free.

"Rebecca, I don't want to do anything with you. Please, cover yourself."

Instead, Rebecca rushed into Adam's arms propelling him backwards with the force of her advance. Adam dropped the tools he was carrying and staggered back. He put his hands on her shoulders to push her away. At that point, Dave bellowed from the stable door.

"Get your hands off my wife, you animal. I should have brought a shotgun out here. Get away from her, you beast. I should have known what you would do. Ross told me about you."

"I didn't do anything. I was trying to get her away from me."

"Dave, he ripped my dress. See?" Rebecca turned to Dave with her breasts exposed and the front of her dress opened wide with several buttons missing.

"Get out of here. I'll have the sheriff on you. Get out."

"Dave, I'm sorry, but she tore her dress open like that. She approached me."

"Of course. You want me to believe my wife tore her own dress open like that and exposed herself to you. You must think me as big a fool as Ross was. I told you to leave. Go before I go to the house and get that shotgun. It would only be what you deserve."

By then, Rebecca had pulled her dress together over her chest and begun sobbing. The tears were as fake as everything else about her, but there was no possible way for Adam to convince Dave of that. He walked from the stable, mounted up on Sport, and rode for home wondering what he was going to say to his father and Hoss and how he was going to try to explain this to Roy when he showed up because he had little doubt that Dave and Rebecca were going to summon him. When he arrived home, his ashen face and shell shocked look were enough for his father to be immediately concerned. Adam had little choice but to tell him the whole story including everything that had happened the day before including more details than he had confided in Hoss. When Hoss returned from work later, Adam told him all of it with his father listening in again saying what he had said the first time.

"Adam, why would she do that? Why would she want to do something like that? And why would Dave talk to you like that and bring up Ross and say Ross was a fool? What does he mean by that?"

Adam was as mystified as his father and brother though as to why it had happened. That is, he was until the next morning. Shortly after breakfast, Dave Marquette was there at the Ponderosa in a carriage. He refused to get out and asked that Adam come out to speak with him. Adam should have brought a witness.

"What you did was reprehensible. But, Rebecca and I have been talking. You have a reputation to protect and a life here that's important to you. We want to keep our ranch and it's been hard. We're willing to forget what happened if you're willing to pay compensation for what happened. We won't go to the sheriff and we won't ever tell anyone what you did."

"I told you I didn't do anything."

"Well, you can keep telling that story for the rest of your life if you pay us fifty thousand dollars."

"What?"

"Oh, I think you heard me well enough. It should be worth it to you to protect your precious reputation and the life you have here. It should be worth that much at least to you. You pay that to us and we forget anything that happened. In fact, we'll be willing to sell our ranch to you or to your father too. You can be rid of us for good and no one needs to know anything. That's the deal or we go to the sheriff later today. You've got a few hours to let us know your answer. At one today if we don't hear from you, we take this carriage to town and file a complaint with the sheriff."

"So first your wife sets me up and lies about it, and now it's blackmail."

"You can call it what you will. You know the deal now. We'll be waiting for your answer."

"I can give you the answer now. I will not be blackmailed. I did nothing wrong. I won't pay you not to tell lies."

"All right, but you'll be sorry. I can promise you that."

Chapter 4

When Adam went back into the house, Ben and Hoss wanted to know what Dave had wanted and were shocked not only by what Adam told them of what Dave had wanted but that Adam had already denied the demand.

"Adam, you sure you wanta do that? I mean, ya ain't got nobody to back you up. You could be in some serious trouble ifn they do file a complaint with the sheriff."

"They have no proof that I did anything either. She's going to say I did, and I'm going to say I didn't. It's not going to go anywhere."

"Son, it may not go anywhere legally, but this could hurt you in a lot of ways. People are going to talk and some are going to remember this for a long time."

"Listen, if they believe it, they were never friends of mine to begin with, and if they're friends, they aren't going to believe it."

"Adam, that's all very idealistic, and in a perfect world, perhaps it would work that way, but doubts are going to be sown about you. Your reputation may never recover from this. We can recover that money."

"So we should let them get away with this? You want to let them blackmail me after setting me up so perfectly? It was a well-planned crime. They're the ones who ought to be reported to the sheriff. I only wish I had some way to prove it. Unfortunately, it works the same both ways. It would be my word against theirs. There's no way to prove anything."

The three men sat quietly for a short time until Hoss had a suggestion. "Maybe you ought to go talk to Roy first. Tell him what happened. I'll go with ya and tell him what you told me yesterday. I can back up that part of your story that you told me that yesterday already and didn't want to go back there and that you had a plan for today to keep her away from ya. Then you kin tell him the rest and about the blackmail. That way when they come in to make a complaint to Roy, he'll already know the story."

Standing, Adam had the hint of a wry smile. "Hoss, you may be the only bright spot in this whole thing. I don't know what I'd do without you. Let's go. That's a great idea."

As could be expected, Roy was shocked by the story he heard, but he believed Adam especially with Hoss telling what he had heard from Adam the day before it happened and the plan that Adam had for keeping her away from him. Then Adam told his story of what happened that day. Roy asked him as Ben had if he was sure he didn't want to pay the money to protect his reputation. Adam was as adamant then as he had been with his father. He wasn't going to succumb to blackmail. Roy told him he admired that in him but also told him he didn't think he was being realistic in evaluating the cost of this story getting out with the damage it was going to do to him. No matter what Roy said though playing devil's advocate, Adam stuck to his original decision. Hoss shrugged and looked to Roy.

"You know how he is when he thinks he's in the right. We ain't likely to move him off that spot he's decided to take and hold."

"I only hope it's worth it to you in the long run. I'll do what I can with the two of them when they come in, but with folks like that, it ain't likely I'll be able to get 'em to back off entirely. Like you said, no blackmail charge will stick but I can say if they file assault on you, you're gonna insist that I file blackmail on them. That only stops the legal processes. It won't stop 'em from talking. Nothing I can do 'bout that. Nothing you can do 'bout it neither."

"I know. Things could get unpleasant for me for a while."

"Might be best if you was to be scarce for a bit around town."

"Roy, doesn't that make me look guilty?"

"As I see it, if folks think you're guilty, won't matter whether they see you or not. They think you've been set up, same thing. What a lot of folks is gonna think is that you're smart for staying away from likely trouble though by staying away from town 'cause I got a feeling that Dave there is gonna try to stir things up against ya. It won't last though if you're not around."

"He won't be around for a bit now will ya, Adam?" Hoss put a hand on Adam's shoulder feeling the tension in his brother. He knew Adam didn't want to concede that point because of his pride. He hoped his intelligence and common sense would win out if given enough encouragement. They did.

"All right. You two win. I'll make myself scarce for a while until things calm down. Good enough?"

"Thank you, Adam. I'm thinking that'll make my job a heck of a lot easier."

"All right, Roy. We'll be heading on back to the ranch, now, right, Adam?" Hoss could tell that Adam was itching for a fight. He wanted so much to strike out at those who were attacking him that it was communicating itself to Hoss, but Hoss knew his brother well. "We don't want to make no trouble for Roy, now, do we, 'specially after he listened to us and he's gonna help us as much as he kin, now, right?"

"Right."

"And by now, Pa's probably worried himself nearly sick. Sooner we get home and tell him what's going on, the better it will be for him too. So, let's get on outta here for anything else happens."

Somewhat reluctantly, Adam followed Hoss' advice and they were well on their way back to the ranch before Dave and Rebecca climbed into their carriage to go see Roy and file charges against Adam. They were sorely disappointed though when they walked into Roy's office and were met with a hostile stare and some pointedly hostile questioning. Less than a half hour later, they left, angry and frustrated. Their carefully laid plans were in shambles. Dave was furious. Rebecca was quiet for part of the trip back until she felt she had to say something.

"People said he was really smart. I guess we didn't think he was as smart as he is. Now what do we do?"

"We go ahead with the other plan."

"Dave, I thought that was only if all else failed. Surely we have other options before we do that?"

"I don't think we do. He's onto us now and he's informed the sheriff. My guess is that Coffee might start doing some checking if he thinks about this for very long. We probably don't have a lot of time to do what we came here to do. We're not going to get the money we hoped to get out of this, but I want the revenge at least."

"Do you think we're ready to go ahead with that plan?"

"You don't think I've been playing cards and drinking with those men for fun, do you? It was because I thought I might need them at some point. Well, now I need them. They'll be happy to help out. They're that kind. By the time I'm done telling stories in town and sharing my best whisky with those five when they come to play cards, they'll do it and be smiling the whole time."

"I'll get the cellar ready in case we need it."

"Our man on the Ponderosa better keep a close watch on him. We'll need to know every move he's making soon. I'll make sure our two men have the rendezvous spots worked out so that we get good communication. Within a week, it should all start falling into place."

"I've got the drugs ready incase we need them too."

"You seem to be looking forward to that possibility. It may not happen, you know. We might be able to do this and get him jailed and hanging on that gallows without ever having to hide him in that cellar. That's only if he tries to leave."

"I know. But after the way he tried to push me away, I want the chance to hurt him a little in a more personal way. I hope he does try to go away so we can lock him in that cellar. I really want that to happen."

"Well, my love, then I hope it happens too because I want you to be happy. Now, let's get home and get this plan of action started."

While Dave and Rebecca were plotting, Adam and Hoss were discussing things with their father. It was decided that Adam would work around the Ponderosa doing his usual types of activities. They didn't think there was any reason to believe he was in any danger as long as he was on the ranch.

"But Adam, Roy's right. If Dave starts spreading stories in town, you don't know what might happen if you go to town. You don't know who might believe him. People get very upset when someone treats a woman badly, and there could be some very angry responses."

"I know. Roy already warned me off enough, and Hoss has been hammering it home too. I'll do what I said I would do. I'll stay away from town and trouble. You know I won't go off half-cocked. If I say I'll stay out of trouble, I will."

Still feeling ill at ease about the whole situation, Ben didn't know that there was anything more that could be done. "What will you tell the hands?"

"Hoss suggested and I agree that we ought to tell them what we told Roy. Tell them what happened. If they trust me, they'll believe me. If not, there's nothing I can do about that."

"All right. I suppose that makes the most sense. This may be a tempest when Joe arrives back here tomorrow. Hoss, maybe you ought to spend the day in town to be sure to be there when they arrive and get them on their way back here as quickly as you can."

"They'll probably want to stop at her folks' house."

"That's fine, but you stay with them, and make sure that nothing happens. Keep that visit as short as possible. The sooner they're back here, the better I'm going to feel about that. They're supposed to be on the afternoon stage but you never know so I think it might be a good idea if you were there when the morning stage arrives too. You know how Joe is. He can change plans without much thought. We told him we would have a carriage in town for him, but I think you in that carriage would be an even better idea."

"Pa, you expecting that much trouble?"

"You remember what happened to that man who assaulted that saloon girl last year, don't you. I mean, she was a saloon girl and they nearly killed him. For a ranch owner's wife, I don't know how some will react, but it will likely be with at least that much anger and I fear it could be a lot worse."

All Adam could do was hope that it wouldn't be trouble for his younger brother and that things would blow over relatively quickly. When Hoss came back the next day with bruised knuckles, and both he and Joe had all the signs of having been in a fight, it was clear that it wasn't going to be easy. Joe's bride stomped up the stairs to their room as Joe sighed deeply and looked at Adam.

"What did you do while I was gone to stir up the whole town against you? The things they were saying were too much for me. I had to say something, and that led to more and Hoss had to haul my sorry butt out of there before I ended up in jail or worse. Now Angela is about as upset with me as you can imagine, and we stopped at her parents' house, and they're not so sure any more that it was a good idea for her to marry into our family. What the heck happened?"

"Maybe it would be a good idea if you could ask Angela to come down here, and I can explain all of it to both of you at the same time. It's a mess."

"That much I got. I'll get her."

So Adam had to go through the story with Joe and Angela to explain how the whole town had seemingly turned against him.

"I assume that not everyone is against me, but enough probably are upset and those would be the ones you saw. I'm staying away from town, and from the looks of things, I suppose it would be a good idea if the whole family stayed out of town for a while."

"I don't understand, Adam. Why does Dave Marquette have it in for you so bad? Is it still about what happened to Ross even after a couple of years?"

"I don't know what else it could be. He's got to be nursing that grudge."

"I hope what happened to Ross doesn't happen to him or that it hasn't already happened to him."

That was something that made all of them worry even more.

Chapter 5

"All right, the coward's hiding out on the Ponderosa, but we've got our friend there and he knows where he's going to be working every day. We can get him when he's alone and we can make him pay."

"You want us to kill him?"

"No, if you do that, the law will make you pay. The Cartwrights too will come after you and nothing will save you. No, I was thinking that hurting him would be enough. Give him a good thrashing and make sure it hurts good. That would be the best don't you think."

"Yeah, Dave, I kinda like the idea of laying a good hurt on a Cartwright." Davis Lord liked to hurt people. He especially liked to get even with those who were wealthier than he was and that was almost every rancher in the area. He was jealous by nature and relished the chance to act on that jealousy.

Ike Mattis, another friend of Dave's agreed too. He too thought it would be fun to take down one of the Cartwrights. He relished power and having complete power over another human being was something he craved.

"Now, I don't think I can go with you. I still can't ride a horse and a carriage would be too obvious. But, the five of you ought to be able to take care of things. He's only one man. Now the plan is, don't hit him in the head. I want him to be able to remember what happened to him and who did it."

"What?"

"Yes, Ike and Davis, I want the two of you to do it so he can identify you. You can wear a mask but not enough so that he can't tell who it is."

"That's crazy. Why would we want to do that?" Ike asked but Davis showed full agreement with the sentiment.

"Because he's going to say you did it, but then me and the other three are going to be your alibi along with Rebecca and maybe we can get somebody else. He'll look like he's lying again and trying to get us in trouble. I want one of you others to use one of my canes and limp a little. You can even wear my hat. He'll likely say I was there too. I think maybe I'll be in town when it happens and then I'll join you all at one of your houses and we'll be playing cards when the sheriff shows up. We'll have all these witnesses to say we've been there the whole time playing cards so how could we have been anywhere else doing anything else?"

"Dave, that's great. We get to pound on him, and then we got an alibi for it too. Perfect."

Again, Ike spoke but Davis agreed. All was falling into place for Dave's plan. Dave even decided the perfect person for him to see in town was Roy. He could imagine the look on Adam's face when he told Roy that Dave had been one of his attackers and then Roy told him that Dave was sitting in his office when the attack occurred. Oh, Dave was enjoying the whole thing already and it hadn't even happened yet. They began to work then on the logistics of it and how to coordinate all aspects of the plan. It was going to be tricky, but if they waited for just the right opportunity, then it would work. Dave cautioned them that they had to be patient if they wanted to get away with it. Their opportunity came about two weeks later when they got the word that the next day, Adam was planning to do a herd count in the southeast pasture while most of the hands would be in another area of the ranch altogether. It was time. Dave headed to town in his carriage smiling as he drove assuming that the other five could get the job done without him. He had drilled them and drilled them on what they had to do. He was to join them at Ike's house later for a card game. Ike's family would be additional witnesses who would swear that all of the others had been there all day except for the Ponderosa hand of course who would go back to work as if nothing at all had happened.

Riding through the southeast pasture that morning, Adam was relaxed. Talk in town had been dying down according to what he had been told by hands who had continued to go into town on Saturdays. His family had gotten used to the idea and there wasn't so much talk about it any more. Even Angela had calmed about the situation and had talked with her family about it settling their concerns as well which had calmed the situation with Joe too. He had kept a low profile as he had promised and planned to do so for a while yet not wanting to stir up any kind of trouble for his family and friends especially Roy who had been out to talk with them once to encourage him more than anyone to keep on doing what they had been doing. He worked for the morning, had his lunch, and was going to finish the count in the early afternoon before heading back to the house. Intent on his work, he paid little attention to riders coming up behind him thinking it was probably hands from the Ponderosa. It was only when the rope settled around him that he knew he was in trouble, and by then, it was far too late. He was dragged from his horse and across the pasture a short distance to some trees where no one would see what was going to happen to him. Someone led his horse into another copse of trees and hid him there. His boots were pulled from his feet, and then Adam was stripped of his hat and gunbelt.

"What do you want?"

There was no answer to his question as he was manhandled to his feet and shoved further into the trees to be sure that no one would witness what was going to happen to him. When the men were sure that they were deep enough into cover to be safe from detection, Ike delivered the first blow striking Adam in the abdomen and dropping him to his knees with the force of the blow. Adam looked up at him and the pain he felt was obvious. Ike liked that. He liked inflicting pain and liked seeing the impact it had. He wanted to see fear though and there wasn't any.

"There's a lot worse coming your way, Cartwright for what you done to Becky Marquette. That was only the first one. You got any prayers to say, you better say 'em now."

"You ought to say a few too, Ike Mattis. Yes, I know it's you. That mask doesn't hide enough. And I see Davis there behind you, and that must be Dave himself watching over there."

Identifying those men seemed to be a signal to the men who moved in to hit and kick Adam, and then stomp him when he fell to the ground as a result of all the blows he was taking. Unable to defend himself, with the rope still around him pinning his arms to his side, he was powerless to protect himself at all. There were no blows to his head although a few boot heels connected with his face as they pulled back from kicking him. When he lay motionless, Davis called a halt.

"That's enough. Remember, we don't want to kill him. Well, we do after what he done, but we know what would happen if we did. This way, folks are gonna understand why it happened and figure he deserved it. He won't get no sympathy. Now, Artie, you head back to work. The rest of us are heading to Ike's place for that card game and some of Dave's fine whisky like he promised us."

"What do we do with his gun, hat, and boot?"

"Toss 'em deeper in the trees. If he comes to, let him stagger home on his own."

The men rode for Ike's place then. At the same time, Dave Marquette was leaving Roy's office after having complained one more time that nothing had been done about Adam. He had known Roy would tell him that nothing could be done because Adam had claimed he was blackmailing him. He professed his innocence to that once more, and then asked if Roy thought there was any solution to the dilemma. Roy said some platitudes that Dave didn't really care about at all, and then Dave had thanked him and left but made sure to look back to see that Roy noticed that he was there in a carriage. He was grinning by the time he was on the road to Ike's place. When he got there and found out how well things had gone, he almost regretted the next part of his plan, but he knew he would do it anyway.

In the trees at the edge of the southeast pasture of the Ponderosa, Adam struggled to his feet time after time but each time fell to the ground stunning himself with the pain of the fall and the impact of that on all the injuries he had sustained. After trying that six or seven times, he had no energy left to try again. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes hoping that with some rest, he might be able to do better. Pain seemed to radiate up and down his body so that he wasn't even sure what hurt the most except that he knew he needed help. He had no strength to even call out and knew it wouldn't do any good anyway because no one was near. He was clearheaded enough to know that eventually they would come looking for him. By then, he needed to be able to get out of these trees or they wouldn't see him dressed as he was in his usual black clothing. So that became his goal. He would rest and then crawl or walk as far as he could and then rest again until he managed to get out of the trees and into the open pasture. He nearly made it before twilight and the voices of a search party echoed around him. He struggled to his feet and used what little reserves of strength he had left and forced himself to stagger to the edge of the tree line but couldn't go any further. The effort cost him everything and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Hoss, did you see something over there?"

"Over there, by those trees, I thought I saw something move."

"Joe, mebbe your eyes are playing tricks on ya 'cause ya want to find 'im."

"I do, and I'm not going to ignore anything." Wheeling his horse around, Joe rode to where he thought he had seen something. They had agreed only a moment before that it was getting too dark to see anything and they were going to have to call it quits and look again in the morning. They almost didn't see him even with Joe leading them to the spot where he had fallen with the darkness, but then Hoss did spot him and dismounted to run to him. One of the men lit a match and that revealed the state he was in.

"Lordy, he's hurt real bad. We need to get 'im to the house. Joe, why don't ya get up on Chubb, and I'll hand him up to ya. Can ya hang onto him ifn we lead Chubb?"

Without answering, Joe pulled Chubb close and climbed into the saddle putting his arms out to grab his oldest brother. Hoss and one of the other men carefully lifted Adam and put him in Joe's arms. It was awkward, but they didn't have far to go. Hoss sent one of the other men to town to get the doctor and then sent another to the house to warn them. Then as carefully as possible, they proceeded to the house with Adam who was quiet for the trip except for occasional moans or whimpers with the jostling of the ride.

Many hours later, Doctor Martin came down the stairs at the Ponderosa with the news. "He's got broken ribs that luckily are not displaced, bruised kidneys, multiple severe bruises some of which are quite severe especially at his knees and hips. He has some severe swelling in his, ah, groin. There are some broken bones in his left hand and some severe swelling in his right hand but no breaks that I can detect. I have splinted both hands though to help them heal. From what I can tell, they didn't want to kill him. They set out to hurt him as much as possible without killing him."

Everyone there knew why too. In their estimation, these were probably men who had set out to exact revenge for Rebecca Marquette because they believed the stories that Dave had been telling. They would have to wait for Adam to awaken before they could find out if he knew who had done it. Paul told them they didn't have to wait because Adam was awake and asking for them and had refused any medication for the pain. Ben, Hoss, and Joe rushed up the stairs. Hop Sing had been waiting for them and left the room when they arrived. Adam looked awful and it was clear he was in severe pain. Sitting in the chair that Hop Sing had vacated, Ben told Adam he didn't have to talk when it was clear that Adam was struggling to do just that.

"No, I want to tell you who was there. It was five men on horseback. I saw Davis Lord and Ike Mattis. I think that Dave was there too."

"Dave Marquette?"

"I think so. One of the masked men was leaning on a cane and had a hat like Dave's."

"The men were wearing masks?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that Davis and Ike were there then?"

"Their masks weren't as good and both of them talked. I heard their voices. It was them."

"That's all I needed to hear." Surprised, the men turned to the doorway to see Sheriff Roy Coffee standing there. "I heard what happened and come out here to see ifn I could find out who done it. I'll be going to see some of those men. Now I know it wasn't Dave because he was in town seeing me this afternoon and he was in his carriage as usual. I ain't surprised at them other two though. They're thick as thieves with Dave. Adam, I'm sorry this happened to ya, but we'll get justice for ya. You can count on it."

Ben turned back to Adam to find that he had closed his eyes and was asleep. It was the beginning of a long and painful recovery. It was made all the more painful when Roy came back the next day to say that both Ike and Davis had ironclad alibis sworn to by five other people that they were at Ike's place playing cards and drinking whisky on the afternoon when Adam was attacked. It was further damage to Adam's reputation when word of that got around, and Dave made sure that the news got around.

Then about the time that Adam was slowly getting back into work on the ranch and feeling better, Roy showed up on the ranch one morning as they were finishing breakfast. Angela went to answer the door and ushered Roy to the table.

"I got some bad news for you folks. Ike Mattis was murdered last night. I got a posse this morning to trail the man who done it, and the tracks led straight to the Ponderosa."

"You don't think I did it."

"Course I don't Adam, and we lost the tracks in the tracks of a bunch of cattle so they never come up here, but you know what people are gonna be saying now, dontcha?"

Chapter 6

Every night, Adam went to his room or walked outside by himself leaving his family to do whatever they would do without him. After a number of days of that, Ben walked outside to find him. It took some time until he found Adam sitting behind the house on the bench where they had all carved their names many years earlier. Adam was leaning back and staring at the stars.

"Can you still name all those constellations?"

"I can. Would you like to test me as you did twenty-five years ago?"

"No, I know I can take your word for it."

"I wish more people had that attitude."

Knowing what he meant, Ben chose not to go that way with the conversation. "We miss you, you know. It's difficult to have a good time as a family when your chair sits empty and your guitar is leaning up against the fireplace there by your chair."

"I thought my presence would be more of a damper than my absence." Quiet for a moment longer, Adam continued. "This should be such a happy time for Joe and Angela. This should be a time of fun and promise. Instead, there isn't much time for laughter. So many conversations have to do with me and my problems. For months now, that's been dominating the family time. I wish now that I had paid the blackmail."

"You know that wouldn't have worked. It would simply have led to him doing something else. We don't know what it would have been, but something else. Adam, he hates you. We know that he killed Mattis so that he could blame you. It takes a terrible hatred to set something like that up. He wanted you to identify Mattis and then he made sure Mattis had an alibi.

"Yes, so I would look like a liar, and now I look like a murderer. Pa, what's he going to do next? He's good at making me look bad, but at some point, we know he'll want to do more. I've been trying to think about what it could be, and try as much as I can, I can't think like that."

"I am glad that my son can't think like a villain. However much I wish we knew what he would do next, I feel good that you have such a good heart and good soul that you can't think like that evil man."

"So far, I've been lucky that he doesn't know the difference between knowing something and proving something. He's got a lot of people thinking they know something about me, but there's no evidence that I did any of the things they think I did. What worries me is that at some point, he may figure out that he needs to manufacture some evidence. When he does that, I'm worried about what he may do. I worry about everyone here. I don't want any of my family hurt because of me."

"Adam, none of this is because of you."

"Isn't it? This is all about me and Ross and Delphine, isn't it? That's where it all started."

"You couldn't help what happened to Ross, and you certainly aren't responsible for what he did. No one can be held responsible for someone who crosses that dark gate as Paul called it."

"I wonder about that. Could our actions help push someone across that line?"

"Perhaps if we did something terrible to someone who was already troubled, then it could, but you didn't do anything terrible. All you did was try to help him and help Delphine. It was Ross who didn't understand and took terrible measures as a result."

"Yes, but by bringing her here to try to help her, I incited his rage and he killed her for it. He wanted to kill me for it. I never meant for that to be a reason for him to hurt anyone, but that doesn't change the fact that my actions led directly to her death and then to my having to kill him. So I do feel responsible for their deaths. I do feel that it was my fault."

"Son, have you been carrying that guilt all this time? You shouldn't. What happened couldn't be helped. Any man would have done what you did in that circumstance. I would have done the same. I wouldn't have left her there seeing her bruised and battered and knowing he would do that more if I left her there alone with him. Adam, you did what you had to do."

"Thanks, Pa, that does help."

"Will you come inside now?"

"In a few minutes. I need a little time to collect myself. Talking about this always makes me a bit unsettled."

"I understand. Don't take too long though or I'll send Hoss out here for another talking to for you."

"All right, all right. Only a few minutes."

"And perhaps we can have some singing tonight. We've all missed that."

"Yes, some singing would be nice."

Standing then, Ben smiled at his son and headed back into the house to let the others know that Adam would be joining them. That brought some smiles and a sense of relief. However after a half hour when Adam didn't come in, Ben told Hoss to go get him. Hoss came back in to say he couldn't find him anywhere and that Sport was gone.

"What? I never heard a horse ride out."

"Well, I checked, and he's gone."

"What in tarnation does Adam think he's doing?"

None of them had any idea that Adam had thought Hoss had come out to get him much earlier only to have a chemical soaked cloth slapped over his mouth and nose even as arms held him until he succumbed. He awakened many hours later to find himself in a very dark, damp space. He reached up to find a boarded ceiling only a few feet above his head when he was seated and found that the entire space was no more than about six feet wide and eight feet deep. It was about the size of a typical root cellar except it was better constructed than most. He found the door but it was sturdy and locked. There were two buckets by the door. One was half filled with water and the other was empty. The more he moved about, the more he guessed he was going to need the empty one so he lugged it with him back to the blanket on which he had awakened and wrapped himself in it. He was cold because all of his clothes had been taken from him. He was cold, completely in the dark, and nauseated. He retched into the bucket and lost what was left of his dinner. That told him he hadn't been out very long so he had to be fairly close to home. But where he was, he didn't know except he had a very strong suspicion. Wrapped in the blanket, he made his way back to the door with the bucket with the offending material and set it there taking a long drink from the bucket with the water. It was only after about ten minutes that he realized he shouldn't have done that because the water was drugged too. He fell on his back. He whispered a fervent prayer before he lost consciousness.

"Oh, God, please help me. Nobody else can."

The next morning, Sheriff Roy Coffee was back at the Ponderosa and it was clear that he was very upset. "Ben, I need to speak with Adam."

"He's not here."

"Where is he?"

"I wish I knew. He left last night without saying anything. It's all very strange." Seeing how Roy looked, Ben was getting very worried. "Why do you need to speak with him, Roy? Has something else happened?" Roy's demeanor made Ben sick at heart. He knew it was very bad.

"Ben, I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but Davis Lord was shot down last night in his yard at his house. He was walking from his stable to his house and a rider came up and shot him at point blank range. His family saw it happen."

"You may as well tell me the rest of the bad news."

"Ben, they say it was Adam. They say he was dressed all in black and riding Adam's horse. Now that chestnut is a pretty distinctive horse, and Adam dressed all in black with that hat with the silver band on it is too. Hard to make a mistake on that even if it was getting pretty dark then."

"So they couldn't see his face?"

"No, they didn't see his face, but you say he left here last night, and this happened last night, and they say it was him. Ben, I gotta take him in. If you know where he is, you have to tell me."

"I wish to God I did know so we could get this all straightened out, but I don't know where he is."

"Roy, Adam would never shoot nobody down like that. You know that." Hoss couldn't believe that Roy seemed to accept what the Lord family members had told him.

"I know what I believe, Hoss, but I have to follow the law, and when witnesses come forward and swear they saw something, I have to arrest the man they swear did it."

"Roy, that's ridiculous if you know he's innocent." Joe was incensed.

Suddenly, Ben recalled the conversation with Adam the night before and how Dave had been creating suspicion but not evidence. Ben began to wonder if he had somehow managed to make that step. "Roy, what if someone got Adam's clothing and his horse. That would explain what the witnesses saw, wouldn't it?"

"Well, of course, it could, but who would do such a thing?" Then Roy understood too. "Ben, if that's true, where could Adam be?"

"I don't know, but wherever it is, he's in great danger. You have to do what you have to do, but we're going to be looking for Adam too."

Hoss was curious. "Pa, what you talking about?"

"Adam and I had this conversation last night. Dave is very good about sowing suspicion, but he hadn't had any evidence to back anything up so Roy couldn't arrest Adam and nothing more than Adam's reputation was damaged even when Ike was killed. But what if Dave has now figured out a way to provide the evidence too?"

Joe knew too then. "So you think he had Adam kidnapped, took his clothes and horse, and then killed Davis? But with that bad leg, he can't ride."

"Do we know that for a fact? It's been a long time since he broke it and many months since the splints came off. Maybe he's using that cane and using a carriage to make us think he can't ride."

"Ben, there's a lot of ifs in all of that. Meanwhile, I gotta go on the evidence, and I got witnesses say they saw Adam Cartwright shoot down Davis Lord in his yard last night. Unless I can get them to back off on that some, I gotta arrest Adam and he's gonna be charged with murder."

"Roy, we need to find Adam first. We don't know where he is, and if he isn't in town, then I have no idea where he is."

"Yeah, Pa, I think ya do. We oughta go on over to that Marquette place and tear it apart 'til we find Adam and get to the bottom of all of this."

"Now, Hoss, you stay away from Dave Marquette. You can't go off half-cocked like that. Ben, you and your boys stay away from the Marquettes. Now, I'll go on over there and talk to him and see what I can figure out. I'll go back and talk to the Lords again, but as you can imagine, they're mighty upset so don't expect nothing too soon. Ifn your boy comes home here, you best let me know. Safest place for him right now is in my jail. You hear me now, Ben?"

"I hear you, Roy, I hear you. But we won't be sitting home here either. We're going to be looking for Adam, and if the trail leads to the Marquettes, we're going to follow that trail."

"Ben, you be careful, you hear. I'm not above putting you in jail too if I have to do it." With a shake of his head showing his overall frustration, Roy left then riding out without a wave or a backwards glance.

"Pa, what we gonna do first?"

"Last night, we thought Adam left on his own. Now, we're going to the back of the house to find the trail of whomever took him and we're going to follow it wherever it leads us. Joe, why don't you go saddle up our horses while Hoss and I take a look for whatever we can find."

Knowing it was an order not a question, Joe moved to the stable as Hoss and Ben went to the back of the house. It didn't take too long to find a small piece of cloth that shouldn't have been there. It had obviously been dropped in the darkness and not noticed. Hoss picked it up and sniffed it before handing it to his father. The chemical odor was faint after so many hours but it was still there.

"That about says it all now don't it. They took him."

The anger in Hoss' voice was unmistakable but Ben knew that some of it was anger at himself as well at those who had perpetrated the kidnapping. He felt the same way. All of them had jumped to a conclusion which had allowed the kidnappers valuable time to get Adam away from the ranch. They might have managed it anyway, but they had so much more time to cover their tracks this way. Hoss found the signs of the horses about a hundred yards further away. He saw that their hooves had been wrapped to muffle the sound.

"Probably had muzzles on 'em too to keep 'em quiet. I bet they walked 'em in here. Then with Adam slung over one of 'em, they probably walked 'em out."

Head down, Hoss kept searching until he found the disturbed vegetation and slight marks that showed him the trail of the three men who had kidnapped Adam. He followed it on foot for quite a while with Joe coming up behind them with horses eventually. Hoss kept walking and looking carefully until he announced that they had mounted up at a point about a quarter mile from the house.

"They took no chances that they could be seen. Nobody from the house or bunkhouse could see to here. They had this worked out well or somebody told them where to go."

"Somebody told them? Hoss, what are you thinking?"

"Pa, they knew right when and where to find Adam to beat him up. That wasn't easy considering he never left the ranch and we never announced what work was gonna be done by anybody till the right before it was done. Then this. Somebody knew right where to stash the horses and seemed to know that Adam was outside at night quite a lot. Who knows that better than somebody who's on the ranch?"

"We've got a spy. If I get my hands on him, I'll …"

"Do nothing." Ben finished Joe's statement for him. "Whoever it is may be our best chance to find Adam and then to clear him of all these ridiculous accusations. If you kill him or scare him away, then we lose that chance. Better that he thinks he's safe and we don't know we have a spy in our midst."

"Pa, how we gonna figure out who it is?"

"Hoss, we know who we can trust absolutely. We start talking to those men and find out if they have any idea of anyone who might be the spy and get them to be our eyes and ears. Maybe they can ferret out the little weasel."

They were going to need that too. Within an hour, they lost the trail on the road with no idea where it led. Adam had been taken. They knew that much, but where he had been taken, they didn't know, and wouldn't know unless they could actually see something incriminating. Joe thought they should spy on the Marquette place, but Ben was worried that could mean they might kill Adam. Hoss thought so too.

"Joe, they killed two already. So far, it looks like they want Adam arrested and hanged, but who's to say they won't kill him if they think that won't work. We gotta be real careful about this. Pa, you should go to town with what we found so far and let Roy know."

"Not yet. Let's see what he can find out first. Meanwhile, let's see what we can find out back on the ranch."

Chapter 7

Unfortunately for Adam, Dave Marquette enjoyed having him as his captive and he had a plan that took some additional time to complete too. He had sent his two hands up to Reno to carry out another part of his plan and they had to do it without being seen on the way so it took longer as they had to stay away from the main road on the way there and back. For Adam, it was a miserable week in that cellar alternately drugged and then being sick. He tried not drinking at all but after a full day of that, he knew he would die if he didn't drink the water. It wasn't enough as it was, and with the retching he did, he was still dehydrated, but if he drank nothing, he wouldn't last more than a couple of days. He guessed his captors weren't that interested in whether he lived or died so the choice was more his than theirs. He drank the water knowing he would be sick and also knowing that things happened to him when he was drugged that he preferred not to think about at all. Several times when he awakened, he found himself fully exposed with the blanket thrown back. On those occasions, he also found sores on his privates and around his groin. He didn't know why but someone obviously was upset with him. He could do nothing about the sores and they festered becoming more and more painful as the days went on. On one day when he was in less of a drug stupor than usual, he thought he heard a woman tell a man not to burn him with a cigar.

"You're not going to burn him again, are you? You shouldn't. You've done that enough already."

"Why not. I like to do it. He can't feel it when I do it anyway."

Dave drew deeply on his cigar several times and then knocked the ash away to reveal the glowing red tip. That time when he pressed it against Adam, Adam groaned in pain. Rather than discouraging Dave, it seemed to make him even more enthusiastic as he moved up to Adam's chest and burned him there several times until Rebecca pulled him away.

"That's it. No more. We have to let him go in a few days and he can't be covered in burns like that."

"No man is going to show another man burn marks in places like that."

"If he does, it will back up his story that he was held somewhere. We're going to have to hold him longer to let those heal now."

"I told you he won't show another man his privates to show him burn marks. It would make him look weak."

"I don't know. We've underestimated him before. Let's leave him alone until we have to let him go."

"All right. I suppose I've had enough fun with him. We'll let him lay in his own mess for a while and see how he likes that."

For another week, Adam was given only small amounts of food and that bucket of drugged water every day. He knew he was growing very weak, and could barely even do the things he needed to do each day by the end of that second week. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last with the regimen he was forced to endure.

Meanwhile the two hands returned from their errand to Reno. One of them dressed as Adam Cartwright and riding Sport into town had withdrawn a large sum of money. Then he had ridden out of town as if he was traveling to California. Instead, once out of sight, he had doubled back, met up with his partner, changed back into his clothing, and leading Sport, they returned as stealthily as they had gotten to Reno. When they returned, Dave gave them the money as a reward and said that they might want to leave as things might be coming to a head soon and they would want to be gone. Both agreed and wished him well with getting justice. Neither had any idea that Adam was innocent and that Dave and Rebecca had committed the murders for which Adam was accused. They thought they had acted on the side of justice. Dave trailed them when they left. That night as they camped many miles from the ranch, he killed both of them, took the money, and left everything else riding back home with a smile. He enjoyed cleaning up loose ends. The next night, he was at the Mattis home watching the house burn to the ground and making sure none of the family escaped. The house went up very fast with the coal oil he had spread around the base of the house. He was sure he would see if anyone tried to leave. No one did. Again, with a smile, he rode home. The following day, he and Rebecca decided it would be a good time to release Adam to face his future, which they were sure included a trial for murder and the gallows. Rebecca had anticipated that decision and given Adam an especially heavy dose of drugs in his water the evening before to make sure he was senseless yet in the morning.

However, things were not going exactly as planned outside the Marquette ranch despite appearances. As he had to do, Roy had issued a warrant for Adam's arrest. However, the posters had not gone beyond Virginia City. After Ben brought in the cloth with the chemical residue which Paul identified and Ben told Roy of the trail of the horses with the muffled hooves, Roy went to a judge and talked about the whole case laying out what he thought might be happening. He asked for some broad powers which the judge was reluctant to grant, but Roy reminded him of Ben's significant political influence and how a wrongful action against his son could affect the future of Nevada.

"I'm not asking to exonerate his son. I'm only asking that you give me the chance to find out what's really going on here."

The judge gave him time to do that. When the bank in Reno was asked to send an exact description of the man who had said he was Adam Cartwright, it checked out for the shirt, pants, and horse, but the height was listed at about five feet eight inches and the weight at about one hundred sixty pounds. Roy looked at that information and knew too that there was something going on that needed even more investigation, but he had more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, Ben and his younger sons were increasingly frustrated and worried. They couldn't sleep at night and during the day, tried to think of things to do to help Adam and rarely could come up with anything. Ben did let Joe slip over to watch the Marquette place on a number of occasions. He saw nothing incriminating. He saw them take buckets of water and feed to the chickens, pigs, and other animals next to the stable. He couldn't see the cellar because it was blocked from his view by those buildings. It was why Dave had selected that place as the location to lock Adam away. Unless one was twenty feet away, you couldn't see it. It was basically hidden in plain sight. They could look like they were carrying on ordinary chores and go to the cellar any time they wanted.

Hoss worked with the hands to try to identify whom the spy was on the Ponderosa, and they came up with several names but no one did anything to warrant additional suspicion. They watched but nothing happened. Arty knew they were watching so he didn't go to meet Dave for his payment for services thinking it was better not to be found out. He decided to give up that money. He didn't realize that decision saved his life although it wouldn't save his freedom once it was found out that he had been part of the conspiracy and had participated in the assault on Adam. Like the two hands on the Marquette ranch, Arty still thought that Adam was guilty of assault on Rebecca and the murder of his two friends. He had been thoroughly fooled.

It was on the morning after the Mattis home burned, that the Cartwrights got their first big break. The two Mattis daughters showed up that morning bedraggled and exhausted and not at all sure that they were doing the right thing, but their mother had told them to do it so they were doing it. Each had their small child clinging to them. Ben was shocked to see them when Hop Sing told him that they had come to the kitchen door. He had let them in and given them food which they were feeding to their children first. When Ben came into the kitchen, the two young women, only in their teens really, were noticeably frightened.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm just very surprised to see you here. Of course, we will offer you any help we can. Hop Sing has given you food. There's more if you want it."

Both women nodded, and Hop Sing immediately got more biscuits, preserves, and milk and put it on the table for them. They looked rather shyly at the abundance.

"Please, go ahead and eat if you're hungry. We never turn away anyone who's hungry. I suppose things have been difficult since your father was killed."

Again the young women got that frightened look.

"I'm sorry once more. I shouldn't have brought up such a difficult thing. It must be very painful for you."

"Not so painful. We're glad he's dead." The older of the two girls seemed to have found some courage and spoke. Speaking like that seemed to embolden her more. "Ma said if anything happened, we was to come to you. So, we're here."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"You don't know?"

"I'm sorry, but other than your father being killed, I don't know."

"Last night our house burned down. Ma musta thought that was gonna happen. Ever since Mister Lord got himself killed, she's been telling us at night to take the babies and go sleep in the hayloft. We fixed it up real nice up there so the babies would be real comfortable and warm. We didn't exactly know why Ma wanted us to do that. She said not to use any lantern or nothing but to keep it dark in there. We did like she said. Ma was smart. She kept lights on in the house until nine or so and then she'd turn them out and go to bed herself. That's when it happened. The light of the fire and the noise woke us up. The whole house was roaring, the fire was so loud. I didn't know a fire could make noise like that. We kept quiet cause Ma had said no matter what happens, keep quiet so us and the babies will be safe."

"You mother died in the house?" Ben was shaken by the news. He couldn't imagine what these young women, girls really, had gone through in such a short time.

"Yeah, he killed her like he killed our Pa. We didn't mind him killing our Pa. He needed killing and we couldn't do it. But he was probably afraid of what we might say afterwards so he meant to kill us all. Can you protect us from him?"

Ben shook his head a little because there were things there he didn't understand. "Who is the man we need to protect you from, and why did your father need killing? It seems a strange thing for a daughter to say."

"Our babies, they're our brother and sister too."

Ben's mouth dropped open, but Hop Sing seemed to have figured it out already. He didn't seem surprised at all.

"Mister Marquette is the one who wants us dead. Pa had us lie for him and for all the others. Mister Marquette asked him to do it and he did. Pa hurt your son with them others and then they come to our place and started drinking and playing cards. Mister Marquette came there later and asked them to tell him all about it. Then the sheriff came and they all said they'd been there all day, and Ma and us, we had to say they was or they woulda hurt us terrible."

"Will you tell all of this to the sheriff?"

"If you protect us and take care of us and the babies, you bet we will. We ain't gonna be safe until somebody takes care of that Mister Marquette."

"We'll take care of you, and we'll take care of Mister Marquette too. Hop Sing, would you take good care of these young ladies and their children, please? I'm going to get Hoss and Joe and tell them what they've told me. You can give them the downstairs guest room for now. They look exhausted. I'll have a mattress brought in from the bunkhouse so you can fix up a sleeping pallet for the babies too. Is there anything else you ladies need right away?"

"No, food and a place to sleep sounds right good about now. We won't be needing that extra mattress though. Our babies like to sleep right beside us yet."

Hoss and Joe were thrilled to finally have a breakthrough in the case. Ben sent both of them to town to let Roy know that they had grounds now to arrest Dave Marquette and they could search his property too. Even though Ben wanted to go with them, he had made a promise to the Mattis ladies and intended to keep it. They were the key to clearing Adam, and he wanted to make sure they stayed safe. Suddenly Ben realized he had forgotten to ask an important question and rushed back into the house somewhat startling the young ladies.

"I apologize again, but I forgot to ask which Ponderosa hand was involved in all of this."

"I heard them call him something like Marty or Arty or something like that."

Hoss and Joe overheard and were on their way to apprehend Arty before Ben even turned around to tell them who it was. When they rode to town, it was with a trussed up Arty riding between them. He had already told them quite a bit and promised he would tell the sheriff all of it too if they wouldn't kill him. Joe let him think that they might otherwise, and Hoss said if Arty talked, he would be sure to stop Joe from killing him. When Arty started telling everything, Hoss and Joe made eye contact and nodded ever so slightly. Finally, they had made another breakthrough. Now they had to find Adam. It turned out not to be as hard as they thought to find him. It was keeping him alive that was the hard part.

Chapter 8

Pulling Adam's clothing from the closet where the items were hidden, Rebecca stopped to ask her husband a question. "Where should we leave him?"

"Originally I thought we would drop him where we beat him up, but now I'm worried about being seen there. Instead, let's keep him in the back of the wagon under wraps until we get near town. You lead the horse away from the road so that no one sees you. I'll drive the wagon. When we get near town, I'll pull off the road and dump him out. Then you lead his horse out and leave him near him and then ride home. I'll go to town like I'm getting supplies, and I'll wait to see him arrested before I come home to give you the good news."

Rebecca smiled. She liked it when Dave seemed to have everything lined up and orderly. It worried her when he seemed to be slipping into strange behavior. This was more like what she wanted to see, the avenging sword of justice kind of man. She smiled and agreed to the plan. Soon they had Adam out of the cellar and dressed again in his black clothing. It was fairly easy to slip the clothing onto him because he was thinner than when he had arrived. They put his boots on him and his hat and then pulled him into the back of the wagon. It was more difficult than expected to move him with only the two of them, but they managed. With a tarp thrown over him, it didn't look at all suspicious. Dressed for riding, Rebecca saddled her horse and Sport and began the ride through the terrain beside the road watching for when her husband would pull off to dump Adam from the wagon. She thought he was remarkably close to town before he finally did it. She rode from the trees, tied Sport's reins to a short tree, and rode back quickly so that no one would see her. Then she rode for home never seeing Hoss and Joe riding to town with Arty between them. Dave had continued on to town and didn't see them either. Hoss and Joe rode past where Adam was not seeing him partly because of the terrain but also because they were intent on getting to town with Arty. They never expected to find their brother lying out in the field outside of town. Sport wasn't easily visible tied to a small tree, which mostly blocked the horse from view of anyone on the road.

By the time Dave had pushed Adam from the wagon, Adam was already partially conscious and the thump on the ground helped shake him to fuller consciousness. He looked around and saw Sport nearby. He had tried to stand to walk to him but couldn't so he crawled over to him in increments resting every few yards laying sometimes for ten or fifteen minutes until he had the strength to continue. When he got to his horse, he wasn't at all sure he was going to be able to get into the saddle. Grabbing a stirrup, he pulled himself up laboriously and then stood shaking and shivering leaning against his horse.

"You have to help me here, Sport. Don't shy away, please. I don't know if I can do this, and if you shy away, I'm likely to fall flat on my face."

Reaching up, Adam grasped the saddle horn. He pulled up a little and did his best to get his foot in the stirrup. Sport shifted only a little causing Adam to have to hop a little. He talked to Sport trying to calm and quiet him and then used what strength he could muster to pull himself up into the saddle. He managed to get his body across the saddle and lay across it for several minutes before attempting to swing his leg across the cantle and down to the other side. He worried that if he didn't do it correctly, he was going to fall off and didn't know if he had the strength to try again. It worked and he sat there a moment leaning forward as far as he could trying to fight off the dizziness that assailed him. Then he kicked Sport ever so lightly to let him know he could start the slow ride into town which Adam could see was near. He had to stop once to retch, and probably could have done that more except there was nothing left in his stomach to spew out. As he rode into town, he was mostly in a daze hearing his name and not recognizing the danger in the way it was being said. Until hands grabbed him and dragged him from the saddle, he didn't realize that he was again in danger. Shouting and threats to hang him penetrated but there was nothing he could do or say to influence what was happening. He was too weak and dazed to have an impact on the mob that had him as they dragged him toward a tree.

Watching from the sidelines, Dave was pleased. He hadn't anticipated this and hoped to watch Adam swinging from a rope before he left town. What happened next was a complete shock to him. First, Hoss and Joe Cartwright showed up with their guns out but Sheriff Coffee and Deputy Clem Foster as well as several others with weapons were there and the judge. They forced the mob to hand Adam over to his brothers who hauled him off toward the doctor's office. Dave was going to object to that when the sheriff turned on him and ordered Foster to arrest him. He stood in shock not understanding what had happened. He didn't hear the sheriff explaining the situation to the crowd because Foster and the other deputies hustled him off to the jail. When he got to the jail and saw Arty sitting in a cell, he got a better idea of what had happened. He swore at Arty, but Foster told him he had done it to himself.

"You killed Missus Mattis last night. However, you didn't make sure the girls were in the house. They're safe and telling everything so we have witnesses who will see that you hang for what you did. What they said matches with what we got from Arty. Now that Adam is safe, we'll get the rest from him. We'll send a few deputies to your house to arrest your wife. It's all over. What I don't understand is why you killed Lord. I know what Mattis did but what did Lord ever do to deserve dying?"

Dave smiled like a cat playing with his prey. "Lord was rustling for years. He took a few here and a few there to keep his ranch going. He was a complete failure as a rancher, but with taking two or three cows from every ranch around him every year, and he made enough to get by. He was a thief, and he stole from me like he stole from everybody else. He didn't know that I knew, but I did."

Dave spoke calmly and quietly as if he wasn't upset. It was part of his plan to lull Clem into relaxing so he could make his next move. When he thought that Clem and the other deputy were off guard, he lunged for Clem and tried to get his gun. Clem was an experienced deputy and wasn't as unprepared as Dave had thought though Dave fought like a wild man and wouldn't stop lunging for the weapon again and again scratching Clem's face and gouging at his eyes. He continued struggling with the deputy until he got his other hand on the grip of Clem's pistol and tried to pull it from the holster. At that point, the other deputy was taking no chances and shot Dave at point blank range as soon as he was sure that the bullet posed no risk to Clem. The bullet entered Dave's back severing his spine. He died almost instantly.

Hearing a gunshot from his office, Roy rushed back. Clem stepped outside with blood on his face from the scratches inflicted by Dave.

"He went wild after he saw Arty and I told him the Mattis girls were alive. At first I thought he was going to be all right, but then he went completely wild. He tried to get my pistol. Max had to shoot him. He's dead."

"Well, you get yourself on over to the doc's. I'll take care of things here and send somebody to the Marquette place. I'll be over there soon as I can."

At the doctor's office, Hoss was the one who took care of Clem because the doctor was busy with Adam. Doctor Martin had asked Adam if he wanted his brothers in the room and he had said no so they were in the waiting area when Clem came in. Hoss was grateful to have something to do. After he finished with Clem, he talked with Joe and they decided that Joe ought to go home to tell their Pa that Adam was found and about what else had happened. Then they could bring the Mattis girls to town to tell their story to Roy to wrap everything up.

In the examining room, Paul was shocked at Adam's condition and especially at the burns he had received. Those wounds had festered and Paul had to clean each one and apply salve to each one. He knew that they had to be especially painful but Adam stayed stoically silent during his treatment. Adam was also noticeably thinner and Paul asked about his treatment which Adam described very much in a neutral tone of voice. Paul knew he had to be masking a lot of pain. Adam needed to be cleaned up, and Paul did that too. Adam's clothes were dirty, but Adam insisted that he wanted to be dressed in them. Paul didn't know the significance of clothing for Adam at that point, but he allowed him to keep his clothing. He could see that Adam was exhausted and wouldn't give in on one point: he told Adam he wasn't going anywhere until he got some sleep.

"I won't release you, and I'll tell Hoss why. You'll stay here then because Hoss won't let you go riding around the country if I tell him you shouldn't."

So Adam conceded and lay down on the bed. It seemed he was asleep within seconds although it may have been a full minute. When Paul was sure he was sleeping soundly by the way his breathing slowed and became steady, he moved out to the waiting area to speak to Hoss and Joe. Only Hoss was there at the time so he got the report.

"Your brother has been drugged. He has burns in some very sensitive areas that look like they were made with a cigar. He won't like it that I told you that so you may want to keep that to yourself. He is very thin. I suspect it is because he was drugged and also because he was not fed very well for two weeks. He may have a difficult time for the next few days or weeks because he won't have any more of that drug. He is very thirsty and the same was probably true about water for him. I would like him to stay here, but he insists he wants to go home. I did insist he sleep for a few hours at least because he's exhausted. He agreed to that. If you would like to sit with him, you can."

That's where Hoss was when Ben and Joe arrived later. Adam was still in a deep sleep. Stepping out of the room, Hoss told them what Doctor Martin had told him. Both were very quiet on hearing that news. The long nightmare wasn't over yet. Adam still had a long recovery to face, and they wondered if he would recover fully from what had been done to him. They still didn't know about the cellar and the conditions of that. Later more news arrived when Roy came to see them.

"Rebecca is dead too. When the deputies got there and told her what had happened and that she was under arrest, she asked if she could go in her house to get a wrap. They said yes, and she came out soon after. While they was getting the carriage ready for her, she started staggering around and then she collapsed. She was dead before they got her to town."

"She took some of her own drugs."

"Probably. We want the doc to take a look at her, but we're thinking that was probably it. How's Adam doing?"

"Sleeping right now."

"I'll need to talk to him at some point, but there's no rush. I got to go talk to the Mattis girls now. Ben, what do you want me to do with 'em after I get their statements?"

"You can get them a hotel room and put it on the Ponderosa account. We'll have to see what they want to do after that. Their house if burned down. They've got nothing."

"I'll ask 'em what they want to do and let you know." Roy left then to try to settle some of the paperwork but satisfied that the case was over. There were many people who pestered him for the story as he walked to his office. He finally gave them a short version of it and told them they owed some big apologies to Adam Cartwright but to leave the man alone for a while because first he had to recover from all that had been done to him.

Chapter 9

Over the next month, the Marquette ranch was sold to the Cartwrights and the proceeds went to the Mattis girls who used the money to move to live with relatives in the east. It was a lot more difficult time for Adam who, as Doctor Martin predicted, had a very difficult recovery from being drugged for two weeks. As he had demanded, he went home with his family to the Ponderosa, but from that first night, he suffered and his family suffered with him. His body craved the drug with which he had been dosed so much, and he sweated and alternately suffered from chills and shaking. He had terrible headaches and couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time. Many times when he tried to eat or drink, he became nauseated and retched. The physical symptoms gradually subsided and he was exhausted sleeping an inordinate amount of time it seemed. Even that slowly diminished until it seemed normal, but there was a somberness about him that didn't diminish. He didn't smile at anything it seemed. Roy came out to the ranch and got his statement. There wasn't much more Adam could add because he was drugged so much of the time that he was gone but he could confirm that he had been kidnapped from the Ponderosa, held in a cellar, and then released near town.

The cellar was located on the Marquette ranch with the blanket and buckets still inside. It matched the description of what Adam said his imprisonment had been. Ben and his younger sons stood silently behind Roy as he opened that door and examined the interior to confirm what they had all suspected. None of them said much of anything as they rode away, but each was thinking that they wished they could have had a chance at Dave. The whole sordid story of Dave and Rebecca and what they had attempted to do to Adam was published. Some people felt very guilty over how they had acted. There were probably still some who doubted Adam's innocence in the whole affair.

There were some things that Adam never told them. He didn't tell them that he was without his clothing while he was in that cellar. He didn't tell them any of the dark thoughts he had, and he didn't tell them the guilt he carried. Some of that changed one night as he sat outside staring at the stars. His father came out as he often did to check on him. His worry was clear. He sat down beside his oldest son expecting the silence that was usual but was surprised instead that Adam was ready to talk. Adam talked softly and his voice had a bit of a quaver in it, but he didn't stop.

"Pa, I know that it's been difficult for everyone. I don't want to make it any more difficult, but I've been wrestling with some demons and it's taking some time to gain the upper hand and decide what to do next."

"What demons? You were not responsible for what happened. Two evil people came into our lives and tried to destroy you. They did their best but failed." Ben wanted to offer support to his son, but Adam wasn't having any of it.

"Pa, I've thought a lot about it, and about a few of the things I heard while I was locked away over there. I wasn't always drugged into insensibility. There were things I heard. I heard Dave talk about some of the things Ross said to him. He swore at me and ranted at me about things he thought I'd done because Ross had told him stories. It's taken some time, but I've pieced together what I think happened. It's not a pretty picture."

Ben waited knowing that Adam was going to tell him something that was difficult to say so he needed time to compose how he was going to say it. What he said shocked Ben who had to fight his urge to respond immediately.

"Delphine and I were intimate. Pa, it happened before she was married to Ross. At the time, I didn't know she was going to marry Ross. I told her I loved her. She told me she loved me. I thought we were going to be together. Afterwards, she told me she was going to marry Ross. I couldn't believe what she said, but she told me she was carrying Ross' child and had to marry him. I wanted to know why she laid with me then, and she said it was because she loved me and wanted that one time. I told her I would always love her, but that we could be nothing more than friends. That was it, Pa. I never did anything with her ever again. After that, all we were, and all that we could be, were friends. I was a friend to Ross too in every way I could be a friend. I helped him in every way I could. I never betrayed him except that one time that I didn't know I was."

Dismayed, Ben took some time before he said anything because he didn't want to say something that would make Adam stop talking now that he was opening up, but yet he knew that Adam wanted his response too. He had to be careful about how he phrased things. "I would never have thought Del would have done something like that. I suppose being so young and feeling trapped, she must have thought she would grab at one thing she wanted before she lost it forever, but she must not have thought how it would affect you."

Dropping his head, Adam was very quiet and Ben knew he must have hit the truth or very close to it. "We talked about that eventually, and she apologized. I never told her though how it made it hard for me to trust a woman, and that without trust, it's hard to love completely."

"She never thought about what any of the consequences would be. You were together only once, but it was a fateful time."

"Yes, because somehow, Ross found out about it. I don't know if he spied on us or if he guessed or even if Del told him, but he knew somehow. Apparently when they lost the baby, he thought it was my baby. Whenever he saw me touch her, you know, in a friendly way, take her by the arm, or give her a hug in greeting, or anything like that, he thought it was just signs of our continuing relationship. He thought we were lovers the whole time he was married to her. He told his brother that. Then he beat her and she admitted that it was true confirming in his mind that he had been right all along. At that point, he must have decided to kill us both or at least thought about it. Then what did I do? I took Del to my home. That must have been what pushed him the rest of the way over the edge."

Silence reigned for some time before Ben knew he could speak because Adam was done. "Son, it wasn't your fault. You were a pawn in that whole scenario."

With that wry smile that said he didn't quite accept what was said, Adam waited a short time while he thought of what he wanted to say. "I laid with Del and I wasn't married to her. There are consequences for choices made. You say that all the time. You can't back out on it now to make me feel better. I made one choice, and it had some terrible consequences." There was silence again for a time. "Pa, I've made another choice. I've been thinking a lot, and I know you've expected this for some time. We've talked about it many times before, but I think now is the right time. The atmosphere around here right now is toxic for me. I feel that I can't breathe sometimes. I don't feel free to move around, to talk, to do much of anything. Pa, it is time for me to follow my dreams. I'm leaving."

Not shocked because he has suspected this might be coming, Ben had only one question. "We did talk about this and that you should leave because you were pulled to something and not because you felt pushed out."

"I know. It's a little of both I think, and maybe that's the way it should be naturally."

"Where will you go?"

"First, I want to go to France. I've wanted to see some of the places there for a long time. I've got some contacts in England and I'd like to see if I can get some work there. I'd like to live there for a while too. After that, I don't know."

"You'll come back?"

"I'll come back. I can't say when because I can't be sure what I'll be doing or where I'm going, but I can promise I'll come back."

"When will you tell your brothers?"

"Right now if you think you can give me some help with that. Hoss is probably ready for it too, but Joe is going to be very upset. At least he and Angela will have some peace and quiet now for their marriage. She's had a tough introduction to being a Cartwright."

"All right, let's go inside."

As expected, Hoss was more or less ready for what Adam told him. He had been ready to hear something like it but was disheartened to learn how far away and how long Adam intended to be gone. He wished his brother well and made sure he knew what would happen if he didn't keep that promise to come back home. Joe didn't understand nor appreciate Adam's reasons for leaving. He did in time come to accept that Adam believed he had good reasons to go, and like Hoss, made sure he knew that he better come home as promised. All three men insisted that he better write and let them know what was happening in his life. He got hugs from all three men when he was ready to go as all three ignored his preference for avoiding public displays of affection. In his heart, Adam was glad they did. He carried that memory like a precious gem with him as he traveled. The family got letters from him letting them know he reached New York, then England, that he had arranged for a job in England, that he was taking a trip to France first, and so on. Then the letters came less often and with less detail about the woman that he had met. They had questions but didn't get much in the way of answers. Those would come much later.

PART II

Chapter 10

Sitting on a bench looking at the River Seine, he saw a beautiful woman stop, take a look at him, and then look out over the river. She seemed lost in thought for a time before she turned and looked directly at him and then came to sit on the opposite end of the bench. She said the river was beautiful in flawless English with a lovely French accent. He responded with a simple response.

"Yes, beautiful."

Then he looked back to the river. She said nothing for a time until she startled him.

"I like you."

"You like me? We have exchanged a few words, but you like me?"

"Yes, you saw me standing over there and you looked me over rather well, I think. When I came to sit down though, you looked me in the eyes acknowledging me as a person. You said 'beautiful' and let me decide how to take it, and then you looked away letting me decide too if I wanted to talk to you or if we would remain strangers on a bench. Many men do not show such respect to a woman especially English men to French women."

"I'm not English. I'm American."

"Ah, I have not met any American men before today. Are all American men gentlemen?"

Adam grinned, and she decided that she liked that grin too. "No, not all American men are gentlemen, but my father taught me to show respect to women. My father is always a gentleman. I guess enough rubbed off to allow me to fool you."

"What is this 'rubbed off' and why do you think you have fooled me?"

"It means to have gotten some of the characteristics of someone by being with them long enough. And I do not always think of myself as a gentleman. I have failed in that regard often enough."

"I like you more and more. You are open and honest too. You are not so puffed up as some men are. It is nearly time for lunch. Are you hungry?"

"I could be persuaded to have lunch, but I have only recently arrived and don't know my way around here yet. I don't know where to go for a good lunch."

"I can show you a place. You can buy. I didn't bring enough money because I didn't know I would be going to lunch. I shall buy dinner. Is that fair?"

"More than fair." Adam thought that even if that was a scam, he was going to enjoy his first lunch in the city, and if he got to have dinner with her, it would be even better. "If we're going to have lunch, we should know each other a bit better. My name is Adam."

"I like your name, Adam. I am Corinne. Now, let us go to lunch. I think we shall have many things to discuss."

They had many lunches and dinners together, attended plays and went to museums and art galleries. Adam was introduced to her family. They did not approve of her keeping company with him. That pleased her but concerned him.

"I don't want to be the cause of a rift in your family."

"You are not. It is my family who are the cause of any problem."

"You oversimplify the matter."

"You are too serious."

"I'm going to be gone at some point, but your family will still be here. It is not too serious to be concerned."

"It is my family not yours. You should not be interfering. It is not your concern."

"You have made it my concern."

They argued a lot like that. Sometimes their arguing became very heated and led to even angrier responses yet the following day, Adam always found he wanted to see her again. He would apologize and she would apologize and they would do what they did every day seeing things that were beautiful and interesting until the day he had to admit he was running low on funds and would soon have to leave.

"But why?"

"I have a job waiting for me in England. It will pay very well, and then I will have money enough to live and eventually to go back home. Right now, I have enough to pay my rent to the end of the month and passage to England. That is about all."

"I could pay for your meals and your rent and you could stay here."

"I will not allow that."

"But you would do it for me, I think, if I needed it."

"I might if I could, but would you accept it?"

"I would if it meant that we could be together."

"We're friends only. Why would you do that?"

"Because I think that I have fallen in love with you. I do not want you to go."

"I have to go."

"Then I should go with you. Perhaps I should marry you and be your wife so that I could go with you, no?"

Transported back many months to a conversation he had had with his father, Adam recalled those words he had said to his father. At this point, I think I'd be happy if a comely, intelligent woman came up to me and said she'd be willing to be my wife and live with me. I think I'd take her up on the offer if it was made. It would be better than being alone. Now it had happened, and he wondered what he should do. His father had counseled him not to give up on love so he thought about that too. He wondered if the feelings he had for Corinne were love. He liked being with her. He enjoyed hearing her talk and laugh, liked feeling her arm in his, and especially enjoyed the feeling of her leaning against him in the theater with her shoulder against his and her hip against his. There were many times he had to work to control the urges he had to kiss her or do more when she was that close. He enjoyed their conversations and that they appreciated so many of the same things. He knew he was going to be leaving and had not wanted to be the kind of cad who loved them and left them. But now, he was being offered an entirely different possibility. He was so lost in thought, he didn't see how Corinne was reacting. She thought he was rejecting her and that upset her after she had bared her soul so much to him. She turned to walk away. Suddenly aware that she was no longer there, Adam turned and ran to catch up to her taking her arm and turning her to him.

"Don't leave. I'm sorry. I was thinking. Sometimes I think too much. It's just like the times I talk too much."

"Sometimes you don't talk enough." Corinne's voice nearly broke as she was that close to crying.

"Yes, let's get married and go to England together. Will you be happy in England? There are a lot of English men there." Adam put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him as he smiled a little hoping to get the same from her.

"I don't know if I can marry you really. We have not even kissed. What if you are a terrible lover? I would be so unhappy."

Disappointed, Adam's shoulders sagged. "Are you taking back your offer?"

"No, I'm asking you to kiss me. Sometimes you are as dense the stones in those buildings you admire so much."

"Maybe you should know more about me before you marry me. Perhaps you won't want to marry me if you know more about me."

"Now, are you doing this taking back of the offer? It sounds that way to me. You don't want to kiss me?"

"Yes, I want to kiss you, but I don't know if that will be enough for you to have an answer for me."

"You should kiss me first, and then you can talk to me."

Stepping close to her, Adam wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close as he gently cupped her face with his other hand. Leaning down, he kissed her softly until she yielded to a more passionate kiss and he increased his pressure on her lips and pressed his body to hers until they were molded tightly together. When he released her, she gasped for air and smiled at him.

"Yes, I will marry you. You need me." Then louder in French, she said several times that she would marry him. People there applauded and smiled at the couple that they thought seemed so obviously in love. Adam had to grin at her. She made him angry sometimes; she made him laugh other times. She made him feel alive. Perhaps she was right and he needed her, but first he needed to explain some things. She needed to know more about him so he told her that.

"We need to go somewhere private and talk."

"We could go to your apartment."

"That wouldn't be proper."

"You have kissed me so hard that you practically were making love to me here on the street, and everyone here heard that you are going to marry me. I think it will be all right this time. Now let us go to your apartment so we can get this out of the way. You will tell me these dark secrets and I will tell you it does not matter."

"Perhaps it will matter."

"You are not a murderer or a thief or anything like that so I do not think that it will matter, but yes, we shall see. Let us go and talk."

So they went to Adam's apartment and he told her about Del and Ross and all that had happened because of that. She listened attentively and then told him what she thought. Pointing at his head first and then his heart, she made her point.

"You live too much in the past up here and give yourself too much credit and too much guilt. If you build a house for a man and put his bedroom on the second floor and lightning strikes the house starting it on fire and he cannot escape because he is on the second floor, is it your fault that he died? No, you built the house and you put the bedroom on the second floor, but none of that is why he died. He died because lightning started the house on fire. No one could ever know that would happen. No one would ever have a house if they thought every house would burn down and kill them. But they don't. How could you know that anything that you did could lead to terrible things? You could not. You did what you did with a good heart. That is all that anyone can do. You need to stop living up there in your head and in the past and live here in your heart and live now. You cannot change what was. You can only change what is now and what will be and that is by doing the best you can do."

"We have to learn from the past." Adam was somewhat angry to have his concerns so summarily dismissed.

"Learn what? Did you learn not to love? Did you learn not to have friends? What is it that you learned?"

"You don't understand." Adam turned from her then in his anger.

Coming up behind him, Corinne reached around to touch his chest again above his heart and caressed him even as she unbuttoned his shirt further. He was still angry and wanted to push her hands away, but the touching was so nice and he craved the attention so much that he couldn't. She moved around until she faced him and had his shirt open all the way pulling it from his trousers and then pushing it up and off his shoulders until it fell to the floor. There was no stopping them then. He helped her undress too and they moved to the bed and made love for the first time. It was going to be the first of many arguments that they had, but somehow they always came back together loving each other and ready to face the future together. When friends they made wondered at their relationship, Adam told them it was complicated. That wasn't the word that the friends would use but it seemed to be a marriage that satisfied something that both Adam and Corinne needed although her family wasn't at all happy about it. That was another problem. It took quite a lot of histrionics on Corinne's part and persuasion by Adam before they agreed to the marriage albeit reluctantly.

A few months later, Adam was in England and their second major argument ensued when Corinne saw the small cottage in which they were to live. She found it wholly unacceptable and wanted Adam to find something larger. He didn't have the money for something larger so she wanted to ask her family for money. He had absolutely forbidden that. They had another row that was settled when he agreed to plant a garden for her, add a room to the cottage if the owner agreed, and build an arbor too so that she could entertain in the garden too as the house was much too small for that purpose. It meant that Adam had to work especially long hours but he had never complained about working hard and there were certainly some wonderful fringe benefits in being married to Corinne.

After a few months of hard work, Adam had a new room added to the house and began work on the garden and the arbor. He had talked to the owner and gotten permission to make the improvements getting an agreement from the man that he wouldn't raise the rent when the property was larger and improved. The owner had smiled as if the thought had never crossed his mind, but of course he was thoroughly disappointed that Adam had thought of that. However the American had said he would be leaving within a few years and had only signed a lease for two years with an option for two more. When that time was up, the owner could lease the place for quite a bit more money without having had to invest a single pence himself. It was quite a coup he thought and bragged about it to his wife who thought him a blowhard but appreciated too that they had a property that was now worth more and in a few years would be bringing in a bigger income as she began to plan on how they could spend the extra.

However the extra room that Adam envisioned as a parlor or sitting room wasn't seen as that by Corinne. Adam arrived home after several days on a trip for his job to find men carrying a bed into his home. He followed them in questioning what they were doing only to be stopped by Corinne.

"It's for the new bedroom you built."

"I didn't build a new bedroom. We don't need a new bedroom. It was supposed to be a sitting room or parlor to make our lives more comfortable. How is an extra bedroom going to do that?"

"Did I tell you that my parents are coming for a visit?"

"Surely you don't think they will be happy staying in that small room, and the bed I saw is much too small for two people."

"No, of course it is not for them. They will be staying at the inn. It is for my lady."

"Your lady?"

"Yes, I need someone to help me and I have hired one and she needs a place to sleep. So I have made the new room her bedroom."

There were so many things in that to which Adam wanted to object that he didn't know where to start so he simply began yelling in general and then yelled about all of it over and over again, and Corinne yelled back until he stormed out and went to the pub. It was there that he learned whom Corinne had hired. He didn't even have time to order a beer before he was harangued by the locals.

"You certainly know how to shake up a quiet peaceful little town. First you bring that Frenchwoman in here, and now she hires away the best barmaid we've had in a long time. Eve made this place a fun place to be, and now she's gone, thanks to you."

Echoing sentiments were sent his way letting Adam know he was no longer welcome in that establishment. He headed out not knowing where to go and ended up simply walking in a wide semicircle before going home because he had no other options. By then, he was cold, hungry, and footsore. None of that had improved his mood. Corinne tried to explain again.

"My parents thought that you were beneath me when we married. If they come here finding me living in this peasant's cottage, they will be aghast. However, if I can show them that at least I have been living in decent style, then they will be at least willing to give it a chance."

"Or what? They'll take you home with them?"

"They might try."

"So what else have you planned that you never discussed with me?"

"I did purchase a few dresses."

"A few?"

"Well, Eve needed proper dresses so I gave her some of my old ones and then I needed new ones to replace those so that's how many I needed."

Rolling his eyes, Adam waited for an answer. He knew he wasn't going to like it. She finally told him and he didn't like it. "Twelve? You bought twelve new dresses? I'll have to get a second job to support the two of you if you think you can keep spending like that."

"No, don't do that. I'll ask Papa for some money."

And that led to the second argument of the night.

Chapter 11

Resting comfortably in the crook of Adam's arm on her side with her hand idly playing with the curls of hair on his chest, Corinne had a question for her husband of nearly four years. "Adam, have you told your family about me yet?"

As usual, Adam was a bit uncomfortable with that question. He wasn't completely sure why, but he had never come right out and stated to his family that he had married Corinne. He talked about her in his letters so they must know that she was important in his life, but the words married or wife had never appeared in any of the letters he had written. "In general terms, I have."

"What does that mean? Does it mean that you still have not told them that we are married? You said you would."

"And you said that you would be married to me until death do us part yet you've left me twice already."

"Only to visit my parents."

"The last time you were gone for six months and you never told me you were going. There was no talk of a visit. We had a fight and when I got home from work, all of your things were gone, and you and Eve were gone. I had to assume you had gone to France, but until I checked and found where you had boarded the ship, I wasn't sure."

"You never came for me."

"Sweetheart, you know that I'm doing work for the English government right now. Going to France would have been extremely dangerous in the current mood they're in. I could have lost my head, and I had no idea if you would even consent to return to me. The way your family thinks about me, I wasn't sure that they would let me see you. They would have probably turned me over to government agents."

"All right, I forgive you."

"You forgive me? You were the one who walked out."

"All right, I'm sorry for that. Will you forgive me too?"

"I think I already have. I wouldn't have been so loving to you and taken you to my bed for these last months if I hadn't forgiven you. I know how hard it must be to live with me and my moods and my temper. I'm sorry that it is so difficult for you. I try to change, but then we have a disagreement, and it all happens again."

"I think we are a lot alike. I am stubborn like you and I like to have my way too and then I lose my temper too. I know I can be difficult to be with too, but our life is never boring, no?"

"No, our life is not boring, that is certain. On another note, I have noticed that Eve is doing much better at acting the role of a French lady. Being in France seems to have taken off some of the rough edges."

"Rough edges? Is that another of your American sayings that I do not yet know?"

"Some of the ways that made it obvious that she didn't yet fit in to the role you had chosen for her and yes."

"Oh, and yes, then. Mama thought she should spend time with her staff, and they taught her a great deal about how to act as well as a better way of speaking around her employer. She even learned a little French although she has quite an atrocious accent."

"Worse than mine."

"Oh, my, much worse than yours. I found yours very nice. I knew it was foreign but it was pleasant. Hers isn't pleasant so we won't ask her to speak any French. Her English with a French accent is much more pleasant to hear, and she likes doing that. She said it makes her feel like a real lady. I told her she is real so why would that make a difference, but she couldn't explain."

"Men can treat barmaids as if they aren't worthy of respect as a woman. Remember what you said once of how Englishmen sometimes acted toward French women and you didn't like it. Think of it that way only much worse. Here she is finally beginning to know what it is like to live with respect as a person."

"Yes, like you should give to me and tell your family that we are married." Corinne paused briefly. "I know how we should do it too. Your job is almost over and our lease expires soon. We can go to America and see this Ponderosa, and we can show your family that we are married, no?"

Thinking about that for only a short time, Adam smiled. He did like the idea of going home. He hadn't written much lately and part of the reason was that he didn't know what to say about Corinne. At least if they were in America, she couldn't leave him to run to her parents in France. Well, she could but it would be much more difficult. "Yes, we can do that. I'd like to go home to see my family. It is only a few months until this job is done, and I can have all the arrangements made and everything packed for us and ready to go by then. I'll book a cabin for us the next time I'm in London. When we get to New York, I'll book the rest of the trip. It won't take long with the railroad building that's been going on although the last part of the trip may still be difficult."

"We'll need two cabins."

"Why two?" Then Adam had a horrible thought. "No! You don't plan to take Eve with us? No, please tell me that you don't want to do that."

"I need her with me."

"You won't need her on the ship, and you definitely won't need her in Nevada. No, she won't come with us. That's a definite no."

In her bedroom, Eve listened to the noise of the latest argument and correctly guessed that Corinne had probably gotten to the part about her going with them to America. She rolled over and went to sleep. She knew her employer was stubborn enough to win this one by whatever means necessary.

In the morning, relations between Adam and Corinne were still a bit cool. He dressed for work but paused before leaving. "I'm not going to come back to an empty house again, am I? Corinne, if you leave again, that could be it. I can't keep doing this. Will you promise to stay and work this out? Please promise that you won't leave again."

Sitting at the table with a cup of tea cradled in her hands, Corinne didn't know what to say to that at first. It was a difficult promise for her to make. She paused and knew he wouldn't leave without an answer so she gave him an honest one. "I promise that I will not leave unless I do not plan to come back. I will not leave today because this is not something that will make me want to leave and not come back, but I do not know about the future. I cannot make that promise for all time." She saw Adam react as if she had hit him, but she had been honest. It was a trait they shared. They were sometimes brutally honest even when it hurt. Now was one of those times.

As Adam worked that day, he had what felt like a weight in his stomach. He knew that Eve was coming with them to America. He couldn't fight her on that one. He wondered how many other concessions he was going to have to make. He couldn't lose her. He knew that. The months that she had been gone had been terrible for him. Letters were no substitute for having your wife beside you in bed at night and walking with you and talking with you. He needed her by his side and knew it. When he went home, he knew he couldn't concede too easily or she would ask for much more, but it was going to be a game to play, giving in without giving in too much. He wondered if his father had ever had this kind of problem with any of his wives and doubted that he did. Adam would probably have been surprised at the amount of arguing that Ben and Inger did and especially at the number of arguments she won, and although he knew that Ben and Marie argued some, he had no idea of the tempestuous relationship they had for much of it was hidden from children even those in the teen years. Adam was far more like his father than he realized.

Within a few months, Adam, Corinne, and Eve were headed to New York and a journey to the west that would reunite Adam with his father and brothers. He had missed them and letters had been a poor substitute and he knew he hadn't done a particularly good job with that either. Because of how the rail system was set up, it was cheaper for them to book passage all the way to California than to stop sooner so they did because once Corinne knew she could see San Francisco, she insisted. It was only a delay of a week and after years, that didn't seem like so much of a sacrifice. At least it didn't until they got closer to Nevada. Then Adam wanted to change their plans, but Corinne insisted they stick to the original plan. However once in San Francisco, she was the one who wanted to change the plan. She wanted to stay longer once she got a taste of the city life and the possibilities for shopping and entertaining. She and Adam had a huge argument over it with him setting an ultimatum before storming out to the lounge in the hotel for some drinks and to calm himself.

While he was gone, Corinne left. Adam went to his room hours later ready to try to compromise and found it empty. It was too late to try to find her and he assumed she had gone to another room or another hotel. He found she had taken most of their funds with her and used most if not all of the expletives he knew in English and in French. Then he flopped on the bed and tried to sleep although it was fitfully. In the morning, he began searching for her and had no luck at all finding any trace of her. Discouraged, at the end of the day, he stood and watched ships leaving on the high tide when he got a sudden chill and rushed to the docks. He checked with several companies until he found that she had purchased tickets for two on one of the ships which had just left. He knew in his heart that he had lost her, and he couldn't believe that it was over dresses and going to the theater. He thought that those must be symptoms of underlying problems that he had not seen and began to try to think back over the years to see what it could be but couldn't find a cause other than what he was. He condemned himself for his loss and resigned himself to going home alone. He took the paddleboat to Sacramento and the stage for some distance after that before buying a horse and heading across the mountains toward the Ponderosa. He wanted to be alone, to think, and to try to come up with a way to explain everything to his family when he saw them.

The smell of pine in the mountains, the crisp air biting at his nostrils in the morning, and the sounds of birds singing made him feel at home, but the pain of his loss burned inside making him careless. He knew it, but found himself time and again riding for miles and then wondering how he had gotten where he was not remembering making the decisions that he must have made. At least he had purchased a good horse for he kept moving in the desired direction as if he knew what was wanted even if Adam wasn't attentive to the trail as he ought to be. He hadn't brought much food for himself using what extra weight he could carry in grain for the horse mostly. He hoped to hunt for his food but found he had little interest in it so he ate little as he went. He managed to get enough small game to suffice and that was about it. It was almost two weeks into his trip when he realized he might have made a grave error. He didn't hear any birds or any small animals. He looked up and there were no raptors in sight. He listened carefully and looked around but he had seen no signs of any bear or large cats in this vicinity. That left only one kind of predator, and it was the most dangerous of all probably: man. He didn't know if it was one or if it was a group, but he knew he was probably being trailed and because they hadn't made themselves known, their intent was likely malicious. He had only one hope left. He called out a greeting in Paiute hoping that if it were young warriors who didn't know him, they would at least recognize that if he knew their language so well, he was no threat. There was no answer of any kind. He loosened his pistol in the holster and made sure that his rifle would slide out easily if he needed it. He wondered now about the horse not having tested it in this kind of situation. How the horse reacted could be crucial to his survival and was an unknown variable. He moved on hoping for the best. It didn't work out well for him. He heard them as they flanked him and tried to outrun them but that caused them to start shooting. He fired back but on horseback on a mountainside with trees all around, it wasn't a situation in which he was likely to be successful. He did manage to keep them at bay until his horse jerked to the side and unseated him as he was turning to fire. He fell awkwardly and before he could stand and get to cover, they were on him. There were three of them and he stood no chance so he dropped the pistol hoping they wouldn't shoot him. They didn't, but they were rough as they took his pistol and then everything of value that he had including his boots.

"If you leave me here like this, I'll die. That's not just robbery. That's murder."

"It won't matter. Nobody is ever gonna know. A bear or wolves or a mountain lion maybe likely to get your body and have a feast. Nobody is gonna find you nohow cause all they'll find bones scattered about. Maybe if they find you soon enough, there'll be some stinking flesh attached. They'll feel a bit sorry for ya, but not too much thinking you musta been kind of stupid to get caught by a bear or whatever."

"You've done this before."

"Maybe we have and maybe we ain't. It's not your concern. Now shut up."

The first blow to the head, Adam felt as the pain was intense, and he tasted the dirt as he fell face first into it. The rest of the blows were less intense and eventually, he didn't feel them as he lost consciousness. He noticed some sensations later, and he felt that he was being moved but couldn't do anything about it. He wanted to say stop because it hurt so much but couldn't do that either. Then he was laying in a bed, and it smelled like Hoss. He didn't know how he had gotten home, but he must have. He felt safe and said his brother's name.

"Hoss."

Falling back into unconsciousness again, he had given another clue as to his identity to Hoss' friend who had found him. The man went to the Paiute camp and asked them to go tell the Cartwrights that he thought perhaps the oldest son had come home but was hurt quite badly.

Chapter 12

Laying in bed and becoming conscious for short periods of time, Adam was confused. He thought Hoss was with him sometimes because of the smell that reminded him of Hoss and the gentle touching taking care of him. But the voice he heard wasn't Hoss and when he opened his eyes, the man he saw was definitely not Hoss. He was more about Joe's height and probably closer to his Pa's age. The cabin wasn't the Ponderosa either. It was small and warm but he couldn't say much else about it because there were two of everything and nothing seemed to want to stay in one place as things seemed to move around a bit as he looked at them. When he was able to keep his eyes open for more than a few minutes, the man noticed he was awake and moved closer. Adam struggled to speak and the hoarse voice that came from him was barely audible.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need a basin or a bucket. If not now, soon."

Feeling very nauseated, Adam wasn't sure how much he would retch but was certain he would. He had vague memories of spoonfuls of water and broth being given to him. He guessed he was going to lose some of that very soon. The man brought a bowl filled with wood shavings. It came in handy a short time later. He gave Adam a drink of water and let him rinse his mouth and spit that out into the bowl too before he took the whole loathsome mess away. He came back and asked him if he wanted anything to drink. Instead, Adam wanted to sleep.

"You go ahead and sleep then. Nobody ever is sick while they're sleeping. I let your family know you're here. They'll be here soon."

Adam wondered what he meant by all of that but fell asleep before it made sense to him. It was much later before he found out that the man was a friend of Hoss and that Hoss slept in that very bed when he visited that cabin. It was easier to sleep better knowing that, and when he was sure that Hoss was on his way. He awoke when he heard his brother calling his name and looked up into those big blue eyes for the first time in nearly five years.

"Dagnabit, I would never have believed it ifn I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes."

Struggling to speak in a voice that was hoarse from disuse as well as the retching he had done, Adam managed to greet his brother warmly. "Good to see you too, brother."

"What you doing up here, Adam?"

It was clear it was difficult, but Adam did his best to talk. "I thought I'd come across the mountains and have some time to think."

Hoss reached out and pulled the blanket up to cover Adam because it had slipped from him as he had slept. Hoss kept his other hand on Adam's arm almost as a way to reassure himself that Adam was really there and not some crazy dream. He couldn't help admonishing him though for the choices he had made. "Why d'ya do a fool thing like that ridin' through such rough country all alone?"

So Adam got defensive. "I've done it before."

"Yeah, before. Should I remind you about Eskith and Danny and Kane and a few other times you had some close calls 'cause you was alone? Damn, you're a stubborn man. For a man likes schooling, ya don't learn too well." Hoss watched then as Adam's face lost all signs of good cheer and began to look like a man bereaved.

"Hoss, I lost her. I got married, and we were coming back, but we had a terrible fight. It seems we often have fights, but this one made her walk out on me for good. I looked for her everywhere and then I found that she booked passage on a ship. She left me."

"Nah, she didn't." Hoss was grinning even as Adam looked at him in shock wondering how he could take so lightly what was so devastating to him.

"Hoss, she's gone."

"Nope, she's been at the Ponderosa for nigh onto two weeks now. We been wondering where you were. She thought you woulda come straight here. She was in a panic when she found out you left the hotel and then she tracked you down and found out you left the city. She thought you left her. She come to ask you to take her back. We had no idea you was gonna do something stupid like ride through the mountains."

"She's at the Ponderosa?"

"I said that already. That bump on the head affect your hearing too? She said you and her are a lot alike. Course she's got that French accent that makes things sound real purty when she says 'em and sometimes I'm not so sure what she's saying, but it's still real purty to hear. Anyway, she says you're both real stubborn like and got them hot tempers, and she figures that you'll both be better off here with family to help ya settle things. She said it would be better for the baby if you had a place that you could call home instead of wandring all over creation."

"What baby?"

"Now you been married for years now even though you ain't let us know and Pa's gonna have words with you about that, I know, and I know you been with women before too so you ought to know 'bout babies and how they're made, or that knock on the head did a lot more damage than we thought."

"She didn't tell me we were going to have a baby."

"Well she is. Not tellin' you don't mean it ain't gonna happen."

"Is she all right?"

"She is. She said she was acting kinda crazy and she thinks it's cuz she's with child. She said she knew she done wrong in San Francisco but when she came back, you was gone. She couldn't find you so she come to the Ponderosa."

"I need to get there." Adam moved to sit up but Hoss' hand on his chest prevented any movement.

"You're not going anywhere for a bit. You rest easy there. I'll have to ride home or send somebody to get a wagon to get you home. You can't ride like you are. I can tell just by seeing how your eyes are that you shouldn't be on a horse, and I only got one here anyway. So you lay yourself back and get some rest while John and I figure on what we're gonna do next."

"Is Eve with her?"

When Hoss said she was, Adam groaned. "Adam, why don't you like her? I like her a lot. She's the one talked your wife into coming out here to the Ponderosa."

Looking up hopefully, Adam checked out Hoss' expression. "You like her a lot? How much is a lot? Like in you'd like to kiss her?" Seeing Hoss blush, Adam had to grin. "You already kissed her, didn't you? Hoss, please, please romance her and take her away from Corinne. I love Corinne, but you don't know what it's like when the two of them gang up on me. Corinne doesn't need to have a lady servant out here. Please?"

Hoss hung his head and got that aw shucks kind of demeanor that Adam knew so well. "I don't know if a French lady would be interested in a cowboy like me."

"Oh, please, she's not French. All that 'madame' and such is an act. She's a cockney from England who needed a job and didn't care how much it paid as long as it got her out of the pubs. Get her to drink a few glasses of wine and you'll meet the real Eve."

The brothers talked more after Adam got some sleep, and it was decided that Hoss would go back to the Ponderosa to get a wagon and Corinne so Adam could be transported back to the Ponderosa, and he and Corinne would make plans for their future. Hoss asked why Corinne needed to come up the mountain, and Adam grinned again.

"Just try to stop her, and you'll get your answer."

As it turned out, Hoss didn't need to go home for the wagon. Both Ben and Corinne were so impatient to see Adam that they arrived the next day. Corinne had camped out with her father-in-law shocking Adam who had no idea she would do that. Hoss had only ridden a few hours down the mountain when he had met them coming up the mountain and guided them to John's cabin. When they got there, Ben told Corinne to go in first to see her husband. There were some loud voices at first and then silence. Hoss looked at his father.

"Ya think we oughta go in there and make sure they're all right?"

"Hoss, this would be the worst time to go in there."

"Huh? Oh."

After a short time, Corinne opened the door and the others went in and there was a discussion then of how she had come there with Ben.

"I can do many things you do not know I can do, husband of mine. You should not be so surprised."

"Adam, you got yourself quite a woman here. Too bad we didn't know about her sooner."

As Corinne looked at him triumphantly, Adam looked to his father and nodded in silent acceptance of his comeuppance. He knew that he would have to explain more at some point because his father had already put him on notice about that. His father asked him what he planned to do next, and Adam looked at Corinne.

"From what I understand, my wife thinks we should raise our child here. I like that idea. Our child can grow up with Joe's children. You'll get to have fun with all your grandchildren, Pa. I think we should build a house on the Ponderosa if that's all right with you. I'd like to continue doing some of the same work I've been doing for the last few years, but I'll have time to help on the ranch too. I'm a little rusty, but I think it will come back to me."

Corinne smiled and held Adam's hand as he talked leaning down to kiss him lightly when he finished talking. Ben liked Adam's plan too and it had Hoss grinning as well. Ben and Corinne had brought some food from Hop Sing's kitchen so they had a wonderful meal that evening. Adam's appetite was improving and Hop Sing's buttery biscuits were something that he had missed. That night, Corinne slept on a bedroll next to the bed where Adam slept. John gave up his bed to Ben. Hoss and John slept out under the stars with a campfire talking about the future. Hoss was all grins when he found out that Adam had asked John if he was interested in working for him. He said he would build a stable with a room for John if John would take care of the animals, the yard, and keep a watch on the house and his family when Adam wasn't there. John had agreed to do that. He was rejoining white society and leaving his self-imposed exile as a trapper in the mountains.

"John, we'll be making the usual payment for services to the Ponderosa. Pa will likely want to give you a bonus for this one."

"Nope, Hoss, this one's on me. I done it as a friend."

Hoss shook John's hand. "Yep, we're friends."

The next day, John packed some furs in the back of the wagon so that Adam would be warm as well as comfortable for the ride. Corinne snuggled in next to him, and Ben took the driver's seat looking back to smile at his eldest son and his wife. Hoss had a few words for John as they were leaving.

"Now, Sunday, Hop Sing is fixing an extra special meal. I expect to see you there. I reckon we'll be eating about five."

"I'll be there. I figure I can have my stuff packed up and ready to move in a couple of days. Any extra, I'll be sending over to the Paiute."

So the family was whole again, and there was hope for the future. All the trouble that had started all those years ago when Delphine was carrying Ross' baby but decided to lay with Adam was over. Adam sometimes still thought about Del and Ross, but they were no longer dark thoughts. He remembered the goodness in each and the friendship they had had. The Ponderosa owned the Marquette ranch, but the cellar where Adam had been kept was gone as were the small buildings that had camouflaged it. The small stable had been expanded and converted into a hay barn, and the house expanded and remodeled into quarters for married hands on the Ponderosa. It no longer resembled the Marquette ranch that Adam had known although the graves were maintained discreetly behind the house if anyone cared to go look. In town, the scandal had been forgotten, and people were far more interested in where Adam had been, in his French wife, in Hoss' new romance, and eventually in the new baby on the Ponderosa adding to Ben's grandchildren.

Ben still worried about Adam and his memories of what had happened at the Marquette ranch and with them until he had some ideas of what he wanted to do with the place and rode there with Adam one fine spring day. Adam had not hesitated to agree to his request to accompany him which had relieved some of his concern, but as Ben outlined what he wanted done and Adam enthusiastically talked about what he could do to make the Marquette place fit better into the Ponderosa, then Ben knew it was over. There were no ghosts haunting his son. Corinne had told him that she had counseled Adam to look to the present and future and not let the past rule him, but Ben had still worried. Seeing his son do as Corinne had said made him more confident that the past was indeed the past. All those suspicions which had driven Ross to do such harm and then had been passed to his brother motivating his evil acts were over. They could move forward. As they left that day, Adam rode first up the hill toward home anxious to return to his wife and son. Ben paused once at the top of the hill to look back and then he too said goodbye to the painful memories and followed his son going forward.


End file.
